Error, No Game
by Twistedmoonlight
Summary: Advancing tech lead to scientists of Sky Tower Corp developing a new game that would change the gaming world. Izan being a gamer at heart joins the beta out of curiosity which begins a journey that he could never have expected. What secrets lay behind the foundation of Sky Tower Corp, and just how did making a game forward their plans? Read and find out in, Error, No Game.
1. Chapter 1

**Italics - Telepathy.** **Underlined Italics mean the character is reading something.**

 **Disclaimer - "I hear by state that I do not own pokemon in anyway."**

 **"I'd also like to say that my OC characters are creations of my own. If they act or dress similar to a character somewhere else it is simply a coincidence that you can amuse yourself with. Though if you find these similar traits somewhere else i'd like to know. It could be fun to see who my OC characters are related to by you as a reader."**

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I sat there in the dark of my room with only the clicks and taps of my mouse and keyboard as I played the most up to date pokemon battle emulator. If someone were to ask me if I was any good well to be honest I was pretty great. Not that I would say it to their face. I was too modest for that.

As I was playing I managed to get a clean game against my opponent. It was the tenth game in a row that I won that night. I stopped playing hoping to call it a night after being up for three days. However as I was shutting down my system a letter was slipped through the mail collector for my appartment.

I looked over at the clock and noticed that the time was Four twelve in the morning. Curiosity egging me on, I went to the box and retrieved the letter and tearing it open with little regard for the envelope.

Flipping a strand of my blond hair out of the way I began to read the letter.

 _Greetings Izan._

 _You have been chosen as a beta tester for Monsters and Battle, a new game funded by Sky Tower Corp, your hard working company for anything pokemon related._

 _Monsters and Battle is a pokemon battle emulator that takes things a step further by allowing the player to control a physical pokemon created in our special simulation room and do battle with an opponent._

I stopped reading for a moment as I began to brew a cup of coffee and ponder. Sky Tower Corp was a company that was responsible for the battle ban in the city but also the gene splice for pet pokemon business that grew very popular with people. The next thing you know they banned pokemon deemed a hazard from the city and you could only have one of said pokemon if you had a licence.

I scoffed. "It seems like they are a pokemon fan company that got out of hand with power." I said to myself as my coffee machine beeped signaling that my drink was done.

I sighed mostly out of tiredness as I grabbed my coffee and began reading again.

 _In our emulator you will be able to call on the powers of what ever pokemon you use for combat, whether it be a lightning bolt, or a fire ball. You will get to feel the battle first hand! _

_If you are interested in the development of this game then show the back of this letter to the front desk of your local Sky Tower HQ as your pass to play the game. You will then be directed to the location of the test sight. Don't worry about the timing as long as it's between 6:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M. up until the games release which has yet to be determined._

There's no way a gamer like me could pass by this chance, even if it seemed like a hoax. there was only one way to find out.

The next day I awoke with a splitting headache. Though it was nothing new to me it never got any easier. I looked at the clock to see it was six forty one in the afternoon. Well if you stay up for a long time, you give up on waking up at the desired time I thought giving off a yawn.

I slipped on a pair of jeans, a black tea shirt, socks and shoes the moment I got out of bed. I didn't rely on stuff like slippers or bed robes, I got strait to the point. Today I knew exactly where I was going.

I exited my apartment grabbing a dark green jacket then walking down about two flights of stairs and exiting through the lobby. I didn't pay the lobby manager any mind as I left as usual. I wouldn't bother bonding with someone new as it always led to trouble in my case.

Exiting the building I began walking down the sidewalk hiding my face from the sunlight in the jacket I grabbed on my way out. I would have taken the bus but it was just too awkward sitting on a public transport with prying eyes all around. If someone sat next to me I would be stuck trying to ignore them.

As I walked I diverted my eyes every time someone looked my way. Better to not go there. Looking someone in the eyes meant I'd have to say something or nod to be polite. If I didn't I'd feel horrible.

Every time someone got close to me I'd casually change course to be on the side of the road away from them on the sidewalk, especially the ones with pokemon. A chill went down my spine as a girl walked by with a Furfrou.

When growing up I had trouble interacting with people. What few friends I made were close, but over time I grew more and more secluded and even my friends started to get fed up with my poor ability to properly interact around others. Soon I was left with no one by my side and not without fault on my end. However I saw it as betrayal leading to my ultimate inability to trust anything that lived. Particularly those I couldn't understand. Pokemon fell in that category. There was no telling what they were thinking or even their motives. To me they were worse then humans.

Many tests and projects were formed awhile back proving that pokemon could indeed understand each other. According to myth, humans were cursed by Arceus for believing themselves better then pokemon. Hence they were doomed to never understand them.

Pondering these many things I had almost missed my stop. I now stood in front of the large building owned by Sky Tower Corp. I took in the sight of the large building that stood about ten stories up. It was by no means the biggest building in the city, but it did the trick.

As I walked into the building the lobby was surprisingly mostly empty aside from the welcome desk and a few groups of people discussing business most likely. I began walking to the front desk deciding the best course of action was to follow the letters directions.

When I got close to the desk the secretary held up her hand before I could say anything continuing her work. She finally closed her book she was writing and looked at me.

"Show me your letter." She said with a little more force then I expected.

"Uh, sure, but, how did?" I stumbled taking out the letter out of my pocket.

"I know?" she asked finishing my question. She then adjusted her glasses sending a glare my way that made me freeze up. "Lets see,messy hair, pale skin, you might as well have black eyes from lack of sleep and you had the corner of the letter sticking out of your pocket. How could I not know?" She said with a triumphant grin. "your figure reeks of shut in."

As I was holding out the letter to her a bit offended at her summary she snatched the letter from my grasp startling me back a step. She then scanned the back with a device that seemed like it would be used to read bar codes letting of a beep sound. Though I didn't see anything to scan on said letter.

"You check out. You are to go to the grey zone address one o twelve on Charcoal road." She handed me the letter and began working again as if i weren't there.

"Grey zone! But that's the worst quadrant of the city! People have been attacked by wild pokemon there it's so run down!" I exclaimed exasperatedly to which the secretary sighed.

Adjusting her glasses and putting on a smile that was definitely forced, the secretary stood up and began reciting some spiel about saving money and how it was good for the city to bring business to that location in question. It didn't take a genius to figure out she had spewed this several times.

When she finished the rant, she ended by telling me to get going and not to bother her again.

Not wanting to invoke her wrath I got out of there as fast as possible. I began walking the streets again heading back to my apartment to get away from the outside. "Today has been to much interaction and sunlight for my likes." I sighed.

"Hey Izan." A voice spoke that was right behind sending a cold chilling feel through my whole body. It can't be went through my mind as I stopped dead in my tracks hoping that it wasn't who I thought it was.

"There you are big brother. I was looking for you" It said in a monotone.

I turned around. To my horror there stood Lilly my younger sister with her Gardivoir named Ripple at her side. Lilly was somewhat suffocating at the best of times to say the least.

"Hey there, aren't you going to say hi to your little sister? Or are you going to stand their silent and trembling in joy of seeing your sister. I've been looking for you all morning you know." Trembling in joy? Is she insane I thought to myself. "Come. we can exchange pleasantries at your place." The way her voice lacked emotion was creepy as it ever was.

She was age eighteen about a foot shorter then me with brown hair down to her shoulders. She had brown eyes and she was wearing that same solid black hoodie she always would wear with a black and white plaid skirt. She was three years younger then me and chose to become a pokemon trainer and a good one at that. Despite how she looked Lilly was far from normal.

"How did you find me, are you stalking me or something!?" I asked exasperated.

"You turned down the tracking brace, so I settled for a trip sensor that lets me know when you leave the apartment." She said betraying no emotion.

"Wait, you were in my apartment and installed a trip sensor?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"Don't be ridiculous Izan, I don't need to enter your apartment to install a trip sensor. That was when I uploaded a program into you PC that lets me know every web page you visited." She stated in her emotionless voice.

"Lilly... that is actually really creepy." I said completely baffled. "WAIT!... YOU KNOW EVERY WEB PAGE I EVER VISITED!" I yelled causing more then a few people to look our way stopping where they stood.

"Izan, why are you making such a big deal? I can keep secrets." She claimed innocently.

"Lilly, you know I love you and all, but I really have to go somewhere right now." I said in a gentle voice like speaking to a child. She said nothing as I turned and left. Despite looking the other way I could feel her piercing gaze watching me sending chills down my spine.

There was no way I could go back to the apartment with her on the lose right now _._ Sighing I began a course into the Grey Zone where the beta test for Monsters and Battle was being held. At times Lilly was a bit much for me, and this was one of those times. Ever since our parents disappeared she became practically obsessed with my location and what I was doing at all times.

As I walked the street grey zone people would change their course to avoid me or just walk away. It was strange having roles reversed as this was how I treated the people in the white zone where I lived. Not daring to ask directions I forged forward not really knowing where I was going for awhile until I noticed the road sign for Charcoal road.

Walking down the road to the right address I heard a clang in the alleyway next to me. Looking down the alley I saw that a trashcan lid now lay next to it's respective can. atop it sat a Raichu, and digging in the can was a Pikachu.

I stopped in my tracks just watching not moving. The Pikachu seemed delighted to find a small brown paper bag that it tossed down to the Raichu which seemed just as glad at the find. They then turned to leave the alley only to see me on the side of the road.

Both parties just stood there looking one another down. Finally the Raichu handed the bag to the Pikachu and seemed to tell it something. The Pikachu nodded and ran off with the bag leaving just me and the Raichu.

Staring me down the Raichu got on all fours with sparks spiking from it's cheeks causing me to take a step back. This was like one of my nightmares.

"There you are Izan." came Lilly's voice from down the road making me look away from the Raichu.

"Lilly, am I glad to see you! Down there!" I pointed towards the alley.

Needless to say, I wore a confused expression when the alley was empty. Ripple and Lilly looked down the alley, and then just stared at me.

"Izan, there is nothing there. Are you feeling okay?" she asked in her usual emotionless voice.

"I'm fine, I just had a fright." I sighed. "Are you following me again?" I asked wearily.

"Izan, I think we should head back to your home. While we're there we can talk about where to put the cameras as you recover." Lilly declared

"Lilly." I simply stated.

"Yes Izan?" She asked.

"I would really like to play the quiet game right about now." I answered.

When we reached the beta testing facility thankfully in silence, it was only a two story building. I had to double check this was the right place, seeing as it looked like any other building on the block.

Upon entering the building there was a lobby with one single person standing in front of the welcome desk dressed formally. "Ah, more testers. This way." He gestured with his hand to a Double door.

"Actually i'm the only tester here. This is my sister." I told the man.

"It matters not. I'm sure a guest wouldn't hurt." He walked to the doors and opened them for us. Lilly didn't say a word. She and Ripple just stared at the man. making his composure falter just a bit.

"Lilly, you're making him nervous." I said as if this happened all to often. I looking over at her to which she broke her gaze and looked at me instead.

"I was?" She inquired.

Sighing I walked through the doors and was greeted by the sight of a lounge like area that had circular tables and chairs with vending machines in the far back. At least Seven people were seated at tables talking amongst themselves. four were at one table two another and one back by the vending machines seeming to watch the others.

As I walked in, some in the group of four seemed to notice instantly, one even flagged me down.

"I'm sure the other testers will get you started. Some have been here all day." The man that Lilly was staring at just a moment ago explained before closing the door.

Left with little choice I walked over to the group. "The man at the entrance told me you guys could tell me how this all works." I stated.

"I figured that would be the case, they seem pretty laid back about this." One said

"Yea, don't look when I say, but the guy in the back with the vending machines, we're sure he isn't even a tester. He just came in off the street and sat down back there and has been watching since, not talking to anyone." A different tester said.

"Huh, Interesting, well could you tell me what it's like when in game?" I asked genuinely curious.

"It's like no feeling you've ever felt. Everything feels so real when you are in there." The first tester said. "Being electrocuted wasn't fun." He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Na man don't worry about that, the experience more then makes up for it." He quickly said after seeing my expression. "You'll have to see for yourself, the battle rooms are in the back." He said pointing to a double door leading further into the building. We're taking a break as of now.

Wasting little time I thanked the testers for their help and passed through the doors to the back rooms with Lilly trailing behind along with Ripple. The first thing I noticed were viewing windows. When we passed them I saw battlefields ranging from Rocky to swampy with battling pokemon on many of them. A couple of testers were scattered here and there watching battles.

"You don't have to be here if you don't want you know." I directed to Lilly.

"Izan, if I can't stop you from wasting your life away on pointless games, I can at least make sure nothing happens to you when you are." Her gaze looked accusing now.

"I don't need a chaperone." I responded. Though when I thought about it I wasn't even sure why I bothered. At least I knew someone here.

"Ahh, you two look new!" A Sky Tower techie exclaimed to us. "I am the one who will get you accustomed to the game, I assume you will be trying out our new simulation rooms?"

"I am, though I can't speak for her." I made a gesture to my sister behind me. The techie locked eyes with Lilly an expectant look on his face.

"I'm busy." She said staring back at the techie. I was slightly annoyed that she didn't even try to act normal in public.

"So be it, I won't pry." He said looking not the bit displeased. "Name please." He directed to me, to which I gave him my name. "Izan hmm, we expected you sooner or later. I'll get a test room ready for you so you can learn feels of the game."

Counting the rooms I noted there to be six in all as we walked to a back area with a smaller room just like the larger ones but no doubt for testing.

Looking through the viewing window the room was barren. The floor however was made up of dark navy blue tiles with little gold lines sprawled all through them in patterns I could not identify.

Opening a sliding door to the room the techie cleared his throat to get my attention. I walked into the room getting a chill from the cool temperature of the room. Lilly didn't seem to notice the temperature drop at all.

The techie then grabbed something mounted on the wall. Upon closer examine it was full helmet with a thick black wire connecting to a glove with plastic plating and a small screen mounted on it. Looking content after a moment of scrutiny the techie handed it to me.

"I have a question." I looked to the techie who hummed in acknowledgment. "Those pokemon were beta testers in the other rooms were they not? How is that possible?" He stayed quiet for a moment.

"Ah yes, of course you would be curious, though you must understand it's not like we transform your actual body. Naturally you can't see the testers body when a simulation is running because we place them in a safe box. ...Now miss, since you aren't here to participate, I would kindly ask you wait outside." The techie gestured to Lilly and towards the door.

"I understand, but again how does it work? This is far from where current technology lies." As I asked this Lilly walked out the door but continued to look in.

"Of course, it would seem that's the question many are asking. Allow me to explain." He shifted to the standard idle position with his hands behind his back. "This is the dawn of new knowledge. We have made a machine that can make an unstable body structure. We then have the conscious of the one wearing that helmet you now hold to temporarily link to it with no issue. This is thanks to the body having no conscious of it's own. With your body under an artificial induced sleep, you have complete unconditional control of the unstable body we have generated for use."

"You accomplished all this?" I was amazed at this turn of events.

"You forgot to mention the real accomplishment." Lilly stated in her tone still lacking emotion from the doorway. The techie hummed once more as is to ask what she meant. "You made a machine that can put together a body like a kid playing with blocks that degrade after one use. You then made a helmet that could focus the practically non existent aura levels of the human wearing it and project their conscious to the new made body which was made easy by recent research on how psychic pokemon can link minds with other beings. These were not the real accomplishments though, were they?" Lilly then pointed at the techie as if in a dramatic scene. "The real accomplishment was that you somehow provided the bodys with an actual aura of their own, isn't it?" Lilly stated slightly raising her voice.

The techie remained silent for a long while before slowly clapping his hands. "I must say, you my young lady, are cut from a different cloth." You don't know the half of it I wanted to say but I held my tongue. "The other testers never brought it up, but your right, an attack from a pokemon requires aura, but i'm afraid that I can't part with how we did it." The techie then shrugged with a small frown. "As a simple employee, I can't speak on behalf of the company. Whenever you are ready, you may put on the helmet and choose the settings you want with the touch pad." He directed to me.

When I donned the helmet I heard a beeping sound come from the glove on my hand. Looking down at the touch screen it now had a menu on it. Option one being pokemon. Option two was landscape, and option three was attunement. Option three was grayed out at the time. There was an option for time, however that was locked at ten minutes.

Deciding that the best place to start was an avatar I clicked pokemon bringing up a list of available pokemon.

Scrolling through the list I found lots of interesting options but noted that many names were grayed out. Guess that's why it's in beta came to my mind.

I stopped my search when I came across Absol leading me to look no further. When I clicked the name, the screen returned to the menu with a check mark next to pokemon. Wasting little time on landscape I chose lakeside moving on to attunement where I first became confused. It was simply the type chart.

"I shall clarify." The techie began back to his idle position. "Since you already know we succeeded in making an aura, this will be much simpler to explain. Pokemon with a certain type naturally have an attunement to that type, but they also have the ability to attune to at least one more type beyond their natural typing. Of course they won't be as well off with a type not of their own, but they can manage. When a pokemon uses a type not befitting of it, trainers call it their hidden power. Some pokemon like the one you chose are very adaptable and have been known to be able to pull off full blown thunder attacks even if they are not electric type."

"So choosing an attunement is like taking a secondary typing then." I stated mostly to myself.

Not knowing if I would even be able to pull off an attack I quickly chose ice completing the process.

"Excellent, now if you would enter the safe container in that corner there, the rest will handle itself!" The techie exclaimed exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

When I opened the door to the safe container it was filled with some kind of gel pad at the back. I stood back in the container and closed the door. I let out a breath of nervousness from being in a dark confined space.

"Your simulation test will begin shortly, please relax." A computer generated voice stated after I was standing for about ten seconds. I then felt the container leaning back until I was no longer standing but laying on the gel pad in the back. "Configuration complete, starting simulation." I felt a shock run from my head down to my feet as my body became completely unresponsive and numb.

It seemed like several minutes of nothing before I was suddenly greeted with the small testing room I stood in before the simulation. This time though it was a small grassy plain with a small body of water nearby.

I felt strange to say the least, and the lights seemed extra bright _._ I shook my head and moved a foot forward, no wait, a paw? Shock spreading through me I started panicking and shuffling my legs around only to fall backward into a sitting position.

"Izan, this is all part of the game, you need to relax for a moment." came a voice from somewhere I couldn't tell, but I recognized it as that techie.

I didn't move. Instead I sat there trying to slow down my breathing. Eventually I caught my breath and convinced myself that I was okay and that this wasn't permanent.

"Good, i'm going to guide you through the tutorial. Now this may seem a little strange, but learn to walk." The techie said through the speaker. I took note of the fact I could see Lilly, Ripple and the techie though the viewing window.

I got out of sitting position and tried to walk in a random direction. The first thing I noticed was my legs didn't wobble. If anything my body and muscles seemed to be pretty stable as if they were used often. Though this didn't stop me from stumbling multiple times.

After losing my rhythm several times and nearly face planting or falling backwards, I finally began to get the hang of moving at walking speed. I felt utterly ridiculous walking on four feet.

"Okay, now that that is out of the way, we can move on to trying an attack. Normally we would have you try running first, but we already used a lot of our time up. Now, what I need you to do is focus heavily on your bodies pulse and muscle structure. You should feel a sort of dormant energy."

Doing as the techie commanded I began to concentrate on my body. Surely enough I found it. Some kind of energy was flowing through me.

"Focus on where you want that energy. In this case lets try your claws. Then flex your muscles as though you were guiding that energy to them." The techie commanded me.

Taking in a deep breath and slightly kneading my claws in the dirt. I then focused on the energy and tensed the muscles in my front right foreleg bringing a tingling feeling to my claws. Lifting my paw just a bit from the ground I looked down to see bits of light that were traveling from the muscles in my leg to my claws making it look as though they were shining. It faded soon after I stopped concentrating.

"Congratulations, you have learned to call on idle energy. Each pokemon has focus points to which they can easily call energy to. In your current case, you have seven. Your horn, each leg, mouth and tail. Now it's time to get you to activate that energy." I merely nodded in acknowledgment of the techie's words as I toyed with my new found ability of shifting which focus point I sent the power.

"While you have called idle energy you should notice that the energy that you are pulling from will now seem to have it's own muscle structure, use that structure." He commanded.

After a second I realized there was indeed a structure to the energy I was calling. Now that I knew about it I felt as though it were a piece of my very body. It was like I could make that energy do what I wanted. Focusing the energy towards my claws again using my new found link, I found the results to be quite different. Instead of a shining effect my claws were encased in a white glow that made them appear about two inches longer.

"Of course calling energy will become practically habit. With a bit of practice you won't even need idle energy anymore." The techie stated as I stared in awe at the power of aura. "The energy you use right now is known as normal energy."

Deciding to experiment I made the energy from my claws become the size of a short sword quickly learning how fast it wore me down. After my little test I figured that my aura level was directly related to my stamina level _._

"Since you are in a dark type body, we will work on that type. You must know that in calling any type you must know it's workings and focus on the effects you want. Dark energy is often associated with justification, or a means to an end. If your resolve fails your attack will as well."

If this is the case, why do people consider dark to be evil I pondered as I made my way to the the water's edge seeing my reflection for the first time during the simulation. Of course I didn't see me looking back, but rather an Absol. I was surprised to find that there was a scar across the right side of my face as though a pokemon went for my eye with a slash seemed that the details were so real.

"Now Izan. When you are using the structure to your energy reserves I want you to try and force the energy to alter itself. When calling upon the dark type, think of using it to accomplish something even if it's just to learn how to do it."

I want to use dark aura. I thought to myself over and over taking the techies advise before activating my claw attack again with the intent of using a dark attack. After I felt the faint tickling feeling in my claws again, I saw that they now had a kind of dark glow to them. Albeit a small flickering one.

"Nicely done!" the techie exclaimed. "But of course you and I know that attack could hardly hurt a fly. Remember Izan, the dark type is volatile and responds to your resolve. It's strength is based on your will to use it. when you are backed into a corner or are feeling threatened are times it shines the strongest."

I had an epiphany realizing that it would work best for those who live lives of risk and reward. This was why it was seen as evil. Upon learning this I then thought about how much I disliked being around people. Readying my attack again I slashed my claw through the air as if I to remove an imaginary person crowding my space. To my surprise the attack became more solid then the first time leaving a dark trail of energy as I swung.

"That is all I can teach you with the time allotted. For the remainder of your time I suggest learning to use your body better. I'll leave you to it." With that the techie left no longer watching through the viewing window.

I Decided to practice running up until my vision started to become dark and the landscape around me started to degrade as the simulation powered down.

The next thing I knew I was awake in the safe container with the door opening to reveal Lilly and her Gardevior Ripple.

"Uuuuggh." I groaned as I stumbled from the container. Never had I felt this mentally drained.

"How do you feel Izan?" Lilly asked. Though rather than concerned she looked more curious, both her and Ripple were leaning closer making me a little uncomfortable.

"I feel like I just spent twenty four hours reading an encyclopedia, but without the gain of knowledge." I complained as we left the test room.

"What was it like during the simulation?" She pressed on.

"It was great like I had all the power and ability of an Absol, However I felt ridiculous being in the body of an animal." We walked in silence until we hit the lobby with me slumping down in one of the chairs back near the vending machines.

"For what it's worth, I think you'd make a great dog." Lilly stated innocently.

"Too exhausted to explain how much I find that insulting." I said laying my head on the table in front of me.

"Hey man, don't worry, it gets easier after a bit." Someone at the same table spoke.

I lifted my head up to meet the gaze of the same person I saw over here when I entered the lobby for the first time who was sporting a light smile.

"Oh, i'm sorry, I didn't notice you there." I lightly rubbed the back of my head forcing a smile.

Now that I was up close I took a moment to examine him. He had long black hair that would obstruct his vision much like my hair would. He was wearing a navy blue jacket, shirt and jeans. I guess he must have really liked dark blue. The most interesting thing though was his eyes, they were purple, almost like they were glowing.

"No problem man, I get that a lot. My name is Hidone, pronounced Hid - doe - nay, if you have any trouble." Hidone held his hand out.

"Izan, nice to meet you." I shook his hand after giving my name.

"And what might your name be?" He directed to Lilly who just stood there for a long while staring at Hidone until she finally gave him her name but said nothing else.

"Uh, nice to meet you." Hidone then held out his hand towards her to which Lilly made no movements.

"Um, I must apologize, she doesn't like to interact with people." I explained as Hidone slowly closed and lowered his hand giving off a light chuckle like he was embarrassed.

"Hey, how about you and I do a couple of sessions in the simulation rooms?" Hidone asked once again sporting a smile. "I can give you some pointers."

"You use the simulation rooms?" I asked slightly caught off guard. "Some of the other testers seemed to think you were just sitting here all day."

"Oh, You see, they sent out the letters for the beta when it was ready, but some came late. I was here the day before. Your letter must have came later." Hidone explained.

"In that case why not?" I inquired feeling recovered enough to move again.

Shortly after that we had found an empty simulation room to use. As we battled Hidone kept to his word and gave me tips which allowed me to execute my attacks much easier then before. He still couldn't help with agility though as I would use Absol while he would use Lucario which only had two legs opposed to four.

Over the course of our battles I had learned that if you lose consciousness you would be forced awake in your real body and the simulation would end. I also learned during our breaks that Hidone was not just a gamer, but also a pokemon trainer that believed it was an invaluable experience seeing things from the perspective of a pokemon.

For the forth time that day I awoke from a simulation defeated by Hidone. When the door opened to my container Hidone had helped me out as the next testers entered the room to start their own simulation.

"Man, it seems like I can't beat you even when you don't use your type advantage." I claimed slightly off put by another defeat. During our battles I had learned to breath fire by using my aura thinking it would help me against Hidone since he used a steel type, but he always seemed to see it coming. He said it was something about being able to see my aura pattern.

"Don't let it throw you off, I think you have grown exponentially over the course of our battles." Hidone returned.

Returning to the lobby once more I looked to our usual spot near the vending machines to see Lilly now sleeping. Of course with Ripple at her side I knew no one would dare approach, but there's still something to say for acting decent I thought slightly annoyed at the sight.

"Well, It has been fun, but it's time I left. Have a great night man." Hidone said holding out his hand with his fingers spread in a form of goodbye.

"Yea, hope we meet again. I'm curious how it would turn out." I stated as Hidone turned and left.

I looked at the clock suddenly realizing just how late it really was. It was no wonder Lilly fell asleep.

Looking around the lobby I saw many others were now leaving as well. I zoned in on the techie that guided me through the tutorial who seemed to notice me as well.

"Ah, Mr. Izan, we are closing the beta for today. You may hang around for awhile if you wish, but i'm afraid the simulation rooms are unavailable at the time. Have a good night, we hope to see you again." With that the techie left following the last testers that had left before him leaving the lobby empty aside from Lilly and I.

Everything seemed so quiet. It would have been peaceful if not for Ripple staring at me from beside a sleeping Lilly.

"Hi." Someone said behind me breaking the silence. I turned around to find someone that was wearing a white hoodie with the hood covering his face and blue jeans for his lower body. All I could tell was that he was male by his voice.

"Uh, hi." I said somewhat thrown off.

"Bummer that I got here so late, I was hoping to get in a run at the test rooms before going home." The guy said casually.

"That tends to happen when you show up at twelve o clock at night." I stated with a shrug.

"Hey, that's not a problem, your here after all. if your up for it I can get us into a game." He claimed putting his hands behind his head just as casually as he spoke

"Don't they close the simulators though?" I asked.

"Of course, but I know how to power them back up of course." He said holding one hand out to the side as though to make a statement.

"I don't know, that doesn't seem right." I uttered unsure.

"Come on. lets go a round. I mean in the long run were only helping the company with their beta tests anyway. It's not like were hurting anyone." Without further warning the guy walked toward the test rooms.

"Uh, I guess, but only one round." I stated while glancing back at Lilly once more with Ripple still beside her before following the person to the simulation rooms.

When we reached the simulation rooms the quiet feeling of the night gave me an eerie vibe. It was almost like the very hallway was watching my movements.

"Lets use this room." The hooded person declared leading me into his chosen room. "Okay, Put on your glove and helmet, then enter the safe container while I get the simulation room running." He commanded.

I had paused a moment before deciding that there was no going back now. Deciding to get it over with I _q_ uickly entered my specs in preparation for the simulation and walked into the safe container closing the door leaving me in total darkness.

"Your simulation will begin shortly, please relax." The computer generated voice I was familiar with by now had stated. The container then leaned back so I was in laying position. "Configuration unknown, starting simulation."

"Unknown?" Was all I had time to say before I felt the most brutal pain I had ever experienced. It was like every memory and feeling was being ripped from my mind. Throwing my hands up to my head only being able to handle so much pain I screamed in agony for what seemed like an eternity until my throat must have bled. I thrashed and continued to wail as my body spasmed uncontrollably. Before long my vision then flashed red and slowly faded back to black as every thought and feeling left my mind.

Darkness and silence consumed Izan. That night at 00:07 A.M. Izan's life was changed and would never be the same.


	2. Chapter 2 Like a New Man?

**Okay, so this chapter will be a little shorter then my first chapter. I know a lot or readers like the longer ones, but I guess this chapter is more of a bridge to keep the story progressing anyway, so it shouldn't be to much of an issue.**

 **I'd also like to say thank you to everyone who read my first chapter. I honestly didn't expect it to go as well as it did.**

 **I also have a serious question. Do you as readers expect this to be a dark story, a light one, or in between? This will not directly affect the story line only the amount of humor and antics you wish to see if you respond to this. Dark is more serious and on topic while light is full of humor and antics.** **(I may have went overboard with the antics by the end of this chapter.) But you know what? I don't know, maybe you like that sort of thing.**

 **Basically I wan't to know what my readers want so I can write my story in a fashion that best suits the audience but still keep it as my story.**

* * *

My eyes cracked open and close a couple times letting in a dim light from the room.

What happened to me, where am I? I thought as my cognitive functions slowly came back to me.

I quickly found that I was lying on my side. There was a silhouette of someone standing in front of me looking down at me. I could tell I was still in the simulation room, though without a program running.

As my vision began to clear, I could make out that it was the man in the white hoodie that lead me here.

Instinctively I tried to get up learning a couple things. The first being that getting up caused a great amount of stress on the muscles of my body. The second thing I learned was that I was not in a human body, but one of an absol.

Unable to lift myself for very long I fell back to the floor in a coughing fit.

"You're conscious and moving already huh, it seems you didn't up and die." The hooded man stated in an curious sounding tone. "This worked better than I hoped, the head will want hear about this development as soon as possible."

"What, did you do to me?" I coughed out still trying to catch my breath.

"Oh you know, transferring your conscience to one of the first stable bodies Sky Tech has ever succeeded in making. No big deal." The hooded man said casually.

"What do you mean, that's not possible." I weakly gasped.

"Mere days ago the common gamer didn't think that virtual reality was possible. Look where you are now." He responded pointedly. "But I guess this is more of a real reality." He said letting out a chuckle.

"I've had enough of this, get me out of here!" I hoarsely shouted as I began to panic.

I tried moving again much to my sore body's displeasure.

"Sorry, this is under wraps, but you'll still make a glorified test subject." He said shrugging.

"I'm not some lab rat!" I exclaimed fearing where this was going. In the meanwhile the man pulled something out of his pocket. Upon closer inspection it looked like a gun with a syringe for the barrel.

My mind raced with thoughts on getting out of there. Despite the pain I felt from moving, I began scrambling backwards away from the hooded man as he approached with the syringe.

"You should feel honored, what with being a crucial piece in the advancing power of humanity." The man stated as I collapsed from my failing muscles while he closed in.

"What do you mean?" I gasped after losing the willpower to move anymore.

"I guess it would be rude of me to not give at least a small explanation." He said stopping his advance. "The Monsters and Battle simulation game is actually a weapon in it's alpha stage." He said looking over the weapon he held. "Did you not wonder why you could feel pain, or why the game seemed more suited to people with real battle experience?" He asked.

Once he revealed that piece of info it clicked. I could never beat Hidone earlier because he was a pokemon trainer with real battle knowledge. Whenever I came up with a way to beat him he would always adapt and win regardless because he knew the grounds. But if this was true then why was a gamer like me brought here I wondered my mind racing for an answer.

"I can see it on your face." He stated condescendingly. "You're thinking why oh why would an everyday person like me be invited here to use high grade technology, I wouldn't be able to use it properly after all." He said clearly mocking me now.

"Why?" I asked feeling utterly defeated.

"Aww, broken already?" He teased. "The selection process was quite exclusive. We needed people who didn't have close ties to anyone. People who could just, disappear." He revealed making an expanding motion with his hand. "Loners, orphans, shut ins. If I recall, your file fit all of those categories my dear Izan."

I sharply inhaled hoping this was all just a nightmare.

"I'm sorry but that's really all you get, it's time we said good night." He said pulling back the syringe for leverage.

I cringed and closed my eyes expecting a piercing pain, but instead heard a blasting sound and then a thud.

Opening my eyes I saw Lilly standing in the doorway with Ripple at her side. Ripple had one hand dramatically extended my direction. Looking back I noticed that the man had been flung past me and now lay motionless behind me.

"Lilly?" Was all I managed to say at the time.

Lilly just stood there not saying a word. With the way the light from the hallway shined from behind them It gave me an eerie vibe.

"Lilly, call the cops!" I exclaimed forcing myself to stand despite my sore muscles. Ripple turned to Lilly as though conveying a message.

"Izan... you're fluffy." Lilly stated flatly. No doubt she was referring to me being an absol.

"Lilly, this man should be locked away, and this entire system shut down!" I shouted trying to convey the situation to her. As Ripple turned to Lilly again it dawned on me that she could not understand me for some reason.

"Izan, hold still." Lilly said reaching for something on her person.

"Lilly, what are you doing?" I asked in uncertainty and confusion.

Realizing just in time what she was going on I jumped to the side as she slung an ultra ball at me. It narrowly missed as I crashed to the ground.

"This isn't funny, stop messing around!" I yelled searching for a way out.

"Don't you see Izan, I won't ever have to lose you this way. I can protect you." She explained looking like she was about to cry. "You can't be selfish after this! I won't lose you like I did mom and dad! This is how it has to be." She declared reaching for another ultra ball clumsily with tears falling from her eyes.

I quickly noted that reasoning was out of the question. I had known Lilly was troubled deeply by mom and dads disappearance and that her behavior was off, however with her emotions being shown in full effect I now knew the true nature of just how devastated she was. I was truly scared now, scared of being captured by my little sister as a keepsake. At least as a test subject I still would have a small amount of self respect.

Her gardevior Ripple was now holding his head and cringing with tears falling from his eyes. No doubt because of the link he had with her.

Seeing this as my chance I mustered as much strength as I could and barreled between Ripple and Lilly while they were trying to compose themselves.

Once I was in the hallway I forced myself to continue in my weakened state. After I made it through the swinging doors at the end of the hall, I had found myself in the rest lobby for the beta testers.

Moving a fast as I could to the doors that lead to the entrance I stumbled to the ground in surprise as the doors began to open and reveal someone entering the room. More surprising however, was the moonblast that soared over my head nearly hitting Hidone, who was walking through said doors.

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON IN HERE!" Hidone yelled at Lilly not even seeming to notice me on the ground in front of him. Getting out of the sheltering stance he had taken Hidone went to continue his rant before seeing the look on Lillys tear reddened face.

He honed in on me as I picked myself up off the ground. As he locked eyes with me he got a surprised look on his face.

"What is this? This looks just like the absol from the simulation rooms. Lilly, what is going on here?" He asked in a somewhat confused and shaken rush.

"Hidone, the battle simulation is just a cover!" I shouted as a moonblast landed near me making me fall over before I could finish telling Hidone what was happening.

I looked back to see Ripple by Lilly with his hand trembling. If he had been just a little more accurate he would have hit me directly. "I'm sorry." He said weakly. "Her emotions are too strong. I am no longer in control of my actions."

I just stared at him baffled that he spoke to me.

"I don't know what is going on or what this absol is trying to tell me, but you are not well!" Hidone yelled throwing a pokeball. "Jack, you're up!" A lucario materialized now forming a front against Ripple and Lilly.

"You can't keep me from him!" Lilly cried. "Ripple, remove him." Lilly choked out.

Hidone hesitated for a second. "Jack, this isn't training, we need to subdue them!" He called to his Lucario before turning to me. "Run while you can." He told me.

While Lilly was distracted I stumbled out the door before the incipient battle became in full effect.

I had exited the building without any further complications and now stood on the side of the road in the grey zone with no clue what to do. I decided to pick a random direction and move not wanting to stay in one place. I knew I couldn't go home. I also knew I couldn't go to the cops without getting taken by Citizen Safety.

Before I got very far the headlights of a vehicle pulled onto the road making me duck into an ally. As the vehicle passed, I noted it to be a van from the Sky Tower Corperation. Peeking out the ally I saw it stop at the building Lilly and Hidone were fighting. The doors to the back opened letting several employees out wielding some kind of fire arm and wearing lab coats.

After waiting for a couple of strenuous minutes, the Sky Tech employees exited the building. However, when they were leaving they were now carrying the non moving bodies of Lilly and Hidone to the van they arrived in. The last person to exit the building was the hooded man holding a pokebelt with two pokeballs attached. Those must be Ripple's and Jack's I convinced myself.

"That bastard." I growled to myself.

I started feeling increasingly sick when I thought about all the possibilities for what could happen to Hidone and Lilly in their care. What really put a twist in my stomach was the possibility that they were already dead and Sky Corp was disposing their bodies. Lilly may have acted rash, but she was still my sister.

With limited options I started to walk further into the ally not wanting to risk the open road. I had got about twenty feet in before my soreness and fatigue came back with a vengeance. Unable to walk in a straight line my vision became blurry and my body gave in from fatigue. I then collapsed next to some garbage cans drifting into a deep sleep.

I wasn't sure how long I was out when my sleep was interrupted by to sound of someones voice. Not quite conscious, but not fully asleep I could make out what he was saying while I lay there with my eyes closed and unable to move from exhaustion.

"What do we have here, I've never seen this guy before?" Someone had stated.

"Why is he sleeping in a pile of trash?" A younger voice chimed in curiously.

"I'm not sure, don't you think it's odd that he hasn't reacted to our presence. I heard absol have some sort of sixth sense." The first speaker replied.

"Nah, that feature is exaggerated, his horn is just sensitive to vibrations and sound waves from what I heard. You think he ate something that didn't agree with him?" The younger speaker inquired.

"If it was related to anything that he's laying in, it would not surprise me one bit." The first speaker replied. "I mean..." He paused for a moment not being able to finish his sentence. "what is that by his face?" He asked with a bit of emphasized disgust in his voice.

"Ugh, I think I've seen tauros shit that looked better then whatever that is." The younger speaker said just as disgusted.

"Hey, how much do you want to bet he's in a coma from trying to take a bite of it. You can't have a better excuse for being unconscious in an alley then that." The first speaker declared not even trying to hide the whimsical tone in his voice.

"Oh snap, if he did we would never know. He'd be to far gone to tell us." The younger speaker said in mock worry while trying to keep himself from laughing.

"Would you two can it!" A more feminine voice snapped. "No one in their right mind would even touch that. Also if you must insist on being curious then wake the fool up and ask him why he's here. I don't want to be caught by Citizen Safety because you guys can't leave it be." She said clearly fed up.

"Oh come on, lighten up, of course we're worried about the poor fella." The first speaker said sounding sincere. "Oh, oh, think about it. We could do something good here."

"Don't say it, I know it's going to be something stupid." The feminine speaker claimed.

"No no no, I mean it, we could start a charity. We can call it, save the absol." The first speaker said ignoring the plead.

"I'm warring you, if you continue that thought i'll roast your tail." The previous speaker warned.

"Oh, and our slogan can be, don't give up on our brave hero, for he was courageous enough to eat a fuzzy puke ball, your support matters." The first speaker dramatically eliciting a snicker from the younger sounding speaker in the group.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, I swear you were both born with only half a brain, i'll wake him up." The feminine speaker forcefully barked having had enough of the antics.

There was movement as someone approached me. A moment latter I felt a pressure on my shoulder that turned into a forceful shaking causing me to open my eyes.

I quickly stood up grunting from my bodies complaints. The worn down alley I was standing in along with my absol body told me that I didn't dream the events of last night.

I turned to the source of my awakening to come face to face with a flareon standing in front of a pikachu and raichu who looked on with curiosity.

"Wha?" I asked no one in particular.

"Dumb and dumber here felt it necessary to include you in today's routine." The flareon explained looking back at the duo behind her.

"So which one of us is dumb, and which is dumber?" The pikachu asked scratching his head. I watched the scene proceed in wonder as pokemon were actually talking.

"Both of you are!" The flareon snapped in response shaking me from my thoughts.

"So it wasn't a dream after all then, it really happened." I said gaining the attention of the three pokemon before me.

I inhaled deeply and took a step back as the events from before came back to me in full.

"Yep, he definitely tried to eat it." The raichu said sounding sure of himself.

"Would you give it a rest." The flareon said shooting a glare at the raichu making him sheepishly turn away as if he'd said nothing. "What happened to you absol?" She asked.

"Why would you want to know? Your just pokemon." I declared taking another step back.

I got a confused glance from all three of them.

"I'm telling you... he tried to eat it and is suffering loss of sanity." The raichu said. Earning another glare from the flareon.

"Look, it's not safe for pokemon like you and me to wander the streets. We're seen as a hazard in the eyes of Citizen Safety officers." The flareon directed to me. "You should probably stick with us for the moment, you don't look like your doing all too well." She explained.

"No, I need to find my sister." I said taking another step back.

"Uhh, you may want." The raichu started to say before I cut him off.

"NO, I have to go." I said taking one more step and hearing a crunch, then a squishing sound.

All three of them just went wide eyed looking down at my front paw. I had felt something crumble and release a warm and slimy substance that slid up between my toes making me shudder.

"Did he just?" The pikachu asked not even finishing his sentence.

"Don't look down, there's nothing there." I said to myself standing stock still up until the point it started to drizzle down my foot onto the ground letting off one of the most horrid smells I had ever smelt making me gag. It smelled like rotten eggs mixed with moldy milk and vomit. After a second of the torture I could have swore I felt it move. I let out a yelp and ripped my paw away sending bits of green and brown slimy globs flying every direction.

I had heard a couple gasps and another yelp from someone other than me as I reared backwards to get away from the horrendous substance.

We all stopped moving not making a sound. We just looked at each other in silence.

"Oh arceus no..." The raichu breathed being the one to break the silence. "IT'S ALL OVER THE PLACE!" He yelled sounding horrified.

Though that's not what I had my attention on. Rather it was the flareon that had a piece of the rotting goop slide down her face and slop onto the ground. I didn't need to know pokemon body language to know her expression said, she was done.

"You." She said darkly making me cringe. "You owe me big time for that. We're leaving, and you're coming with us." She declared each word painfully slow. "I want to know exactly why an absol of all pokemon is roaming the city. And another thing, if I hear one objection, i'll knock you out and drag you if I have to. Am I clear?" She finished fixing me with a glare that sent a chill down my spine.

"But I... crystal." I said deciding against an excuse after seeing her scowl deepen.

"Oh dang, he pissed her off." The pikachu whispered to the raichu not so subtly.

"Oh come on, we do that daily." The raichu said while brushing a bit of slime off himself and jittering involuntarily. "What I think is that she really hates him right now." He said voicing his opinion on the matter.

"Let's just get out of here before my sense of smell is permanently destroyed." The flareon whined now looking like she was about to keel over as opposed to menacing from before.

"Umm, are you feeling alright?" I asked feeling like a fool for trying to console the one who just threatened to kidnap me.

"No, i'm not okay." She said tears now forming in her eyes making me do a double take thinking that I was crazy. "I just had a complete stranger assault me with an unknown substance that smells like death." She sobbed with tears falling from her face.

"Holy shit, you broke her!" The pikachu exclaimed sounding thoroughly bewildered.

I just sat there perplexed by the flareon's complete one eighty in behavior. This was the second time within twenty four hours that I made a girl cry. Was I some kind of monster?

"Uhh guys, was there an alternative way out of this alley?" The raichu asked uneasily.

"What now?" The flareon asked still sobbing and looking towards whatever had the raichu on edge. I shifted my gaze as well to see that a van had been parked in front of the alley with the logo for Citizen Safety splashed on the side.

We all watched in silence as the passenger door opened ominously. First we saw a white boot, and then the whole person as he got out of the van. He was wearing a white trench coat that was marked with a red C on the torso signaling that it was indeed a Citizen Safety officer. In his right hand was a white fire arm that looked suspiciously like the ones the Sky Tower employees used on Lilly and Hidone from before.

"Huh, they're early today." The pikachu stated curiously while we all let the situation sink in.

"Ugh, what's that smell?" The officer asked putting a white glove over his face to repel the oder. "Good lord, get the face masks." He called.

"Quick, he's distracted, RUN!" The raichu yelled already on the move with the pikachu and flareon hot on his tail. It took me a second to realize that I was the only one still there. Turning and trying my best at a sprint I began to make my staggered getaway.

I ran through the alleyways dodging and jumping over boxes and crates that littered the area as I got further into the gloomy place. The grey zone lived up to it's name with how worn down it was. I felt like I was running through a maze with large imposing walls that looked down on you.

I did my best to keep up with the trio of pokemon that I had met. It was made hard by the fact that I still wasn't fully recovered from my recent ordeals among other things.

After about a minute of running, I found myself in an alley that lead to a dead end with not a trace of the pokemon from earlier.

I felt my blood pressure rise in anticipation of what was to come. I could hear the foot falls of at least two officers approaching from around the corner.

"Psst, over here." Someone whispered to me.

I looked over to see that the pikachu from before was signaling me from a hole in the building I was next to. There were boxes blocking said hole from the view of an average passerby.

I quickly ducked down and crawled clumsily through the hole with my horn scraping the top of it barely letting me proceed. While waiting in the dark space I heard the fumbling footsteps of the officers that were weaving through the clutter of the alley pass the hiding spot.

"This way, he won't be fooled for long. The others are already moving ahead." The pikachu told me.

"Where are we?" I asked while we moved further into the building.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly revealing what I decided was an empty warehouse. There were windows up near the ceiling letting a small amount of light down on the floor of the open building so it wasn't completely pitch black. I could see the flareon and raichu standing a little further in.

"Your guess is as good as mine, I got lucky and spotted the hole as we passed it." He replied.

The flareon and raichu turned our direction as we approached.

"I don't see any immediate way out of here unless we go back the way we came." The raichu declaired.

"All in good time, I believe Mr. sludge paw here owes me an explanation." The flareon announced clearly stable again. "Lets start with your name." She demanded

"Well you haven't given me your name, so why should I give you mine." I replied.

For as long as I could remember, I had never done well with demands.

"Because I wasn't asking. You can have our names when you have given yours." The flareon countered beggining to sound flustered once more.

"Well maybe I don't want your names, I think i'll remain silent." I declared in defiance.

"Just what do you gain by hiding your identity?" She inquired raising her voice slightly. I could vaguely see the pikachu and raichu's heads bobbing back and forth between us every time we said something.

"I gain the peace of mind that no more people know me personally then before." I retorted louder.

"Stop being a freaking sociopath and tell me already!" She snapped.

"If you really want my name, then why won't you give me yours!" I shot back.

The pikachu and raichu were now shuffling slowly away from us.

"You flung an unidentifiable substance at me that looked like vomit snot, and smelled of a garboder on a mid summer day! Just give me the name!" She yelled back.

"No no no, the agreement was I tell you why I was in the city, not my name. Besides, it's common courtesy to offer your name before asking for someone else's." I said turning my head to look away.

"RAAAAGH, THIS IS GOING NOWHERE!" She outright screamed. "Fine, you want my name, it's Inari. Happy?" She said sounding almost crazed.

"...Actually i'm feeling kind of depressed now." I said feeling like I was about to pass out from the stressful exchange. "I'm Izan by the way." I said somewhat weakly letting off a sniffle.

 **(Meanwhile about forty or so feet away from the argument.)**

After our search came to a dead end alley we decided to look for a trail instead. Surely enough we found a rather smelly one.

We followed the trail of foul goo that the pokemon had left to a hole in an abandoned warehouse. With our tranquilizer guns at the ready we entered the hole in the side of the building to find the absol and flareon exchanging growls and barks in their own language.

We just watched for awhile with our weapons trained on them not doing anything.

"What do you think they are talking about?" I quietly asked my partner.

"I have no clue, you think it's a lovers quarrel?" He inquired back.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Well you see how those two over there are avoiding interaction at all costs, and how that absol is getting completely owned by her emotional side? It's a classic man abuses wife in front of their adopted kids scenario." My partner explained.

"Wow you're observant. You know what? I think you're right, it must be." I responded. "Man, if I were in that absol's shoes i'd hate to be with a guy like that." I said feeling empathy for the poor creature.

"Maybe we should shoot them and end this suffering. I'd hate to see a family torn apart like this." My partner suggested.

"Yes you're right... let's do it, for them." I said becoming weepy as my emotions started to take over.

"Jeez, would you get a hold of yourself." My partner replied sounding slightly annoyed. He checked his Tranquilizer guns ammo cartridge and slid it back. "One shot suits all." He said with finality.

We both readied our weapons and pulled the triggers me with a tear in my eye as the absol and flareon fell over followed by the stunned raichu and pikachu.

"It's so sad... We did the right thing didn't we?" I sobbed.

"Yes partner, we did... it was for them." He replied putting a hand on my shoulder as if to console me.

"I need a hug." I cried.

"Okay this is where I remind you of my five foot radius rule." My partner said moving arms length away.

After I recovered from braking down, we carried the non moving pokemon back to the van and placed them in reinforced cages that were meant for containing aura attacks. When everything was in order we started the engine and made way for the Monster Ward.


	3. Chapter 3 Confined

**I'm sorry if any of you were hoping for a chapter sooner, i'll be updating at my own speed. I want to thank everyone who responded to my question for last chapter. A few of you seemed to want me to write my story a little darker, which I could understand. (Do note that if I find a proper moment, I could get very dark and critical as i'm not afraid to go there.) Ultimately though, most of you seemed to like where the balance is at right now. I didn't really directly respond to any of you, but fret not, for your words have been heard. I love to hear what readers like and or dislike.**

 **With that all said and done, please enjoy chapter three of Error, No Game, as we follow our socially awkward protagonist.**

* * *

I got up letting out a drawn out groan as I sat up once again somewhere I didn't recognize.

"I have got to stop waking up in strange places." I grumbled to myself.

I was in what I could only assume was a jail cell of some kind. The exit to the cell I was in was lined with metal bars, and the flooring to the place was made of cement with cold radiating from it making me shiver. The wall on the other side of the hallway my cell was located on was lined with more empty cells just like the one I was currently in.

I then groaned once more at the feeling I had in my stomach making me think to when the last time I ate was. My result was that I hadn't ever in this body.

"Rise and shine, I was wondering how long you'd be out." A speaker stated sounding rather bored. I recognized the voice as the one belonging to Inari, the flareon I met before being brought to where I now was.

"Funny, I'm still wondering the same thing." I responded before wincing from my strange word choice. As I stretched my limp appendages I hoped she wouldn't pry into it any further.

"Oh do pray tell what you mean by that my enigmatic friend." She replied with a small amount of edge in her voice.

"Nothing, it was just a bad joke." I said brushing the question off a little uncomfortably. "Where are we anyway?" I asked hoping to divert her attention as I looked over at Inari who was laying on a small black mat with her head rested on her forelegs. Of course I already had a good guess to where I ended up.

"We are being held in a prison for pokemon. You may hear something along the lines of it being an institution, however most humans just call it by the official name being the monster ward. It's like they think we're no more then savages and common livestock. Honestly, the fact that they call us monsters is hypocritical. No matter how you spin it there's no changing the fact that our fate rests in their hands now." She explained with disgust.

With the short rant that Inari provided I knew exactly where I was. I was in the silver zone's monster ward. The monster ward was where pokemon were placed when no one knew what to do with them. When at the monster ward, pokemon were either trained to be of use to the city, or detained until they could find something to do with them. Many were just released to the wild, but I had an odd feeling that wasn't what was in store for me.

"You just going to sit there or say something?" Inari asked.

"No... I don't have anything to say on the matter." I declared sighing.

"Fine then, keep to yourself and be a loner all you want. You will soon see that you won't last long like that in the city, and you certainly won't be escaping here either." Inari claimed in a matter of fact voice.

Here I was in a cell caged like a common animal. With me was a short tempered flareon of all things that couldn't understand that I want nothing to do with her. Just my luck I thought to myself as I considered all the problems I had as it was.

"So your saying that your an expert on social relations now? I'll be just fine on my own." I said with a bit of spite to the fire pokemon. Inari muttered something under her breath which I could only assume was a slight against me.

"Because you were clearly doing so much better before we met." Inari spoke her voice now dripping with sarcasm.

"And look where you are now, your in that same boat as me." I countered.

"Did you honestly not stop to think that we only got captured because we were worried about YOUR, well being." She said raising her voice and making me take a step back.

Inari got up from the mat she was laying on looking quite angry. "I think it's time you got off your pedestal you look down from and treat me with some respect." She claimed.

"I am treating you just fine, I haven't done anything to say otherwise." I declared.

"NO... you are treating me like an obstacle that must be avoided at all costs, an inferior being that will stab you in the back the first chance I get. I'm not blind, that little despute to get your name alone told me enough." Inari stated to which I slumped my shoulders and lowered my head slightly.

"That's what they all do whether they mean to or not." I explained with melancholy in my voice. "Everyone will betray you one way or another. The ones that don't even realise it can sometimes be the worst of all. Why should I stick my neck out in a world that would see my head cut off?" I asked my voice becoming more unwavering by the time I finished.

"Just what are you blabbering about?" Inari asked. "That's life, the living get hurt, so get over yourself." She declared with force.

"It's always so senseless when it happens you know. Trust me when I say I know how the world works. I may not be able to explain it without sounding like i'm whining, but maybe that's because it's something that should not need to be explained and rather a simple known fact. Nature is cruel, and we're all a part of it." I said in a Monologue.

"Your hopeless." Inari mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

"Where's the Raichu and Pikachu you were with?" I asked once again changing the subject as if nothing was said.

"Huh?" Inari lightly exclaimed clearly thrown off a little."I, I don't know their exact location." She somewhat stammered. "I would guess they are in a different holding location more suited to their size and needs." She explained looking put down a bit.

We sat there in the cell for a few minutes not saying anything. Inari was fidgeting with her paws clearly bothered that she didn't know her friends whereabouts. The silence was broken by a clank and squeaking sound emanated from down the hall as someone had opened a door to the holding chambers. We waited in complete silence as the sound of slow light foot falls came closer to the cell I was in with Inari.

As the being came into view my breath caught in my throat. Standing in front of the cell was a man wearing the same white hoodie as the man from the night I was cursed to this body.

"Ahhh, Izan it's nice to see you again." He said confirming my suspicions that it was in fact the same man. "Now don't look to surprised to see me. As long as you were in the city we would see a lot of one another after our little fiasco that took place not so long ago."

"You... you did this to me! Just what do you hope to accomplish?" I demanded.

"I don't know what this man did to you, but don't waste your breath. Humans can't understand us." Inari said watching the scene.

"Oh, all too true my little firefox." The hooded man respond to Inari laughing.

"But not in this case." He finished.

"Wait, but how?" She asked looking bewildered and shaking her head.

"Shockingly enough, i'm not here to answer you questions, rather to see what became of my most recent success now that he's awake." He said with a stern gaze on me. "So, Izan, how's it going?" He said casually crouching down and looking at me from eye level.

"How about you come closer and find out." I grumbled flexing my claws.

"I was only trying to be polite, but if that's how you feel maybe you should just attack me with your aura." He taunted. "After all, there's only bars between you and me."

"Your quite literally asking for it." I stated getting ready to burn him with with a firebreath attack.

"Izan." inari said as if to get my attention.

"BURN IN HELL!" I shouted getting in a stance to blast him with a flamethrower... After a few seconds nothing happened. I felt like I had just bombed a speech in front of a full audience.

Everything was silent up until the hooded man snorted and began to laugh hysterically. He didn't even bothering to hold himself up anymore as he fell from his crouch to a sitting position.

"I, I can't believe you actually tried." He choked out practically crying tears of joy. "That was so intense too. Burn in hell!" He exclaimed mimicking my words still laughing. I felt more and more foolish by the second feeling an intense heat rush to my face from the embarrassment of the ordeal.

"Oh man that was gold. Don't tell me you actually didn't notice yet." He said brushing his face under his eye as if to remove a tear drop.

"Izan, we're wearing collars that surppress our aura from what I can tell." Inari explained to me while the man in the white hoodie had his breakdown.

I looked over to her and noted a black band around her neck that I had not seen before due to her mane. I started to fumble about so I could get a feel around my neck. Surely enough I found a restricting band around my neck. Now that I knew about it I wasn't sure how I had missed it.

"Yes, indeed. Complements of Sky Tech." The hooded man said regaining his composure. "It's inside is lined with a horrid substance I simply like to call black liquorice. Though if you want to get technical, it's called an anti aura circulation bracer, or double a c band for a quick and smooth sounding name." He said letting his voice draw out on the word smooth to get his point across as I just glared at him from my cell.

"It prevents the wearing party from performing any of their fancy aura tricks." He explained shortly rendering all of his prior words arguably pointless dribble.

I sat there unsure what to say despite all the questions I should have had. I instead opted to brood on how much I hated this man.

The hooded man took the chance to get into a cross legged position during the break in the conversation.

"You know it's a good thing you didn't get very far." He stated breaking the silence. "We can't have lost experiments running about the city, now can we. My old man would have blown a gasket had he heard I let you escape." He claimed merrily.

"Experiments? A fallen such as yourself has no right to perform such a desecration on pokemon!" Inari piped up looking furious.

"Fallen... now there's one I don't hear all too often." The hooded man said scratching his chin looking none the happier to have more fuel for his banter. "But your clearly not of a traditional family as you would have used the phrase Aurabeing, and not pokemon being a modern term made by humans." He chided Inari in a matter of a fact way.

"Could you stop acting like this is a normal conversation." I spat, having had enough of his voice. "If you like to talk so much, then just explain why your here and how you found me this fast so we can get this over with." I finished fixing him with a glare that screamed murder.

"Not very patient, so be it then." He said yawning as though this matter began to bore him. "The task of finding you was easy. All it took was one little phone call. That aside, I bring you good news."

"Any news you'd bear is of my imminent ruin." I snarled to which the hooded man got out of his crouch and shrugged.

"Well I have quite the surprise for you then." He said locking eyes with me looking serious for once. "It would seem that my research has been put on hold due to recent... setbacks."

"So what's your game now then?" I asked roughly not daring to break eye contact in fear that i'd miss something crucial. "Why even bother to tell me anything? You could have just let me rot in the dark since you destroyed my life as it is." I said raising my voice at him.

"Well aside from reveling in your misery, I guess I felt I owed someone." The man claimed cryptically before turning away from my gaze.

"Pfft, are all humans so akin to causing pain." I heard Inari say. "Are you all the same, with goals that only harm." She finished making me look at her with a sick feeling in my stomach. A pokemon had just questioned my whole race's morality, though I couldn't blame her.

"Tell you what firefox." The hooded man said not bothering to turn our direction. "Since you've been acquainted with Izan i'll tell you a secret. Just so you know who all you are addressing. He's not a born and raised absol."

"What, you mean like a synthetic poke, I mean aura being?" Inari asked shaking her head as if to throw out ridiculous thoughts.

"Your actually half right surprisingly." The hooded man replied. "However the synthetic department has their own project in the works at this time. Let's not go into detail and just say that Izan is actually a human by birth."

"Impossible, such an abomination couldn't exist!" Inari exclaimed making me feel as if I had just been struck upside the head from her harsh word choice.

"Of course, I only tell you this because there's no way you'd get anyone else to ever believe you." The man clarified. "And as for you Izan, you'll be staying here for awhile until I sort some things out."

"I know some pokemon that would love to know what you've been up to." Inari claimed in a low tone. "Mark my words when I get out of here, our first objective will be to put a stop to this project of yours." She warned the hooded man.

"I see then... so you're one of those rebels from the grey zone." The hooded man said casting a warning glance of his own towards Inari. "I'm sorry to say that like Izan, you won't be escaping here. And in all honesty you should have kept your mouth shut. Your group has been a thorn in my side for awhile now." He claimed darkly and began walking back the way he came.

"Oh, and do play nice with the other kiddies Izan. It'd be a shame were you mauled by an angry ursaring." He called back.

"You won't get away with this!" I yelled. "Not in a time like this, people will notice i'm gone!" I called in vain as the door to the cell block closed with a clang.

Everything became quiet once more now that the man had left. I cast a glance to Inari who returned the gesture.

"So... human." She said skeptically.

"So... rebel." I replied lamely in kind.

Not wanting to get into it, I roared and slashed the wall of my cell in rage resulting in a grinding sound as claw met stone. Inari just looked on seeming unfazed.

We had spent most likely about an hour moping in the cell saying nothing. I really didn't want to engage in conversation and I guess Inari finally got the hint as she kept silent. Though I could tell that she really wanted to with the several times she had opened her mouth to say something but didn't.

After a awhile another reason came to mind. One being that she just didn't know what to say after the encounter. With her words calling me an abomination surfacing making me wonder if that was her reason for staying silent. I was an abomination that should be avoided and treated with caution. Was this how Inari felt when I kept her in the dark and avoided contact? Was I treating her and everyone else like lepers in my paranoia?

It had been about another fifthteen minutes or so when I heard the door to the cell block open again. This time there was more than one person entering. The small entourage of what I saw was Citizen Safety officers had stopped at our cell.

"It's time we situated you in the yard and see how you interact with your fellow pokemon." One of the officers said. "And don't try anything funny as we have orders to watch you creatures closely for some reason." He said with authority. "What waste of time watching these animals if you ask me." He added in a grumble.

"If you can even understand me, just make this easy for all of us and come quietly." A different officer stated brandishing a strange staff with two half rings on the end. I recognized the tool as a control pole. The two half rings on the end closed around the neck of the one being restrained to prevent movement or injury to the user of the control pole, and or any other bystanders.

"Into positions." The first man ordered.

The group of officers moved into a formation with two people up front using control poles, and one in back with a tranquilizer gun in case we tried anything.

As if on a queue, the men up front began to open the door slowly. "Okay, now just remain calm." One of the officers said in a soft voice. "Were not here to hurt you." He said hoisting the control pole in front of him in my direction as the other officer entered and went for Inari.

"Your are not putting that on me." I stated taking a step back.

"Easy now, we only need to move you to a new location." He coaxed now fully in the cell. I noted on the other side of said cell Inari was receiving similar treatment.

The officer closed in with the control pole now ready to close it around my neck. As the two officers in the cell separated to get to both me and Inari they had accidentally made an opening in between them to the hallway where the man with the tranquilizer stood.

Right as the officer went to clasp the pole around my neck I ducked out of the way and propelled myself forward between the two officers and out of the cell. Right in my path was the man with the tranquilizer gun.

The man flinched in a panic as I bum rushed him with a headbutt to the stomach. The man fell to the floor in pain while I rushed to the entrance with shouts of confusion coming from behind me. Reaching the door I cursed it's existence as there was no way i'd be able to open it.

I turned around to see that the officer tasked with restraining me was once again approaching clearly with more caution then before. Behind him the man with the tranquilizer was already getting up off the floor and grabbing for his weapon. Clearly I didn't think this through very well.

I could see Inari had been restrained by the control pole of the other officer and was struggling in futility. There was no way i'd escape like this.

I took a few steps back and forth looking for a way past the officer that closed in. Behind him the one with the tranquilizer had recovered and was now aiming at me. "Do I shoot him?" He called.

"I got this." The man in front of me stated seemingly in complete calm. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." He stated as the distance between us shrank.

He then reached for something on his belt just out of sight with his right hand. drawing my gaze back and forth from the control pole to his hand as I was unsure what he was doing.

Suddenly in the blink of an eye, he tossed something from his belt in my direction making me flinch. Before I even knew what had happened I felt something clasp around my neck as the item he tossed then clattered to the ground next to me.

The sneaky son of a bitch had tossed a flashlight to distract me while he moved in with the control pole, and I fell for it I thought bewildered.

"DAMN IT!" I yelled in defeat.

"I got this under control so far, now get the door and help me with him so i'm not dragged across the compound." The officer with my control pole said in a slightly raised voice.

The officer with the tranquilizer hurried over unlocking the door while keeping away from me in fear of my claws and horn. No doubt since I had attacked him once already and he feared worse injury.

Once the door was opened I was forced to move through a hallway of the compound. I didn't struggle knowing it was pointless at this time. Inari acted the same for the most part, though growling every now and then when she felt too forced in her movement.

Eventually we had been brought to a closed steel gate with multiple officers armed with tranquilizers guarding it as if a place of importance. After a quick exchange between the guards they had opened the gate to allow passage. On the other side of the gate was a small grassy plain with trees littered here and there and a small pond every now and then.

When we were ushered into the open field I felt the hold on my neck release as the officers undid the hold of the control pole. Upon my turning around as this happened the gate was closed once more locking Inari and I in the clearing.

"Fresh meat for the yard it seems!" I heard someone call causing me turn to face a small group of pokemon that gathered in the clearing. Among them were many different pokemon including an infernape, zangoose and grovyle with several others watching. There must have been twelve different pokemon here already.

I cast a sidelong glance to Inari to see what her reaction was to determine the state of the situation. It didn't yield any real info as she looked just as confused as I felt.

"Hey, you two are late!" someone yelled.

As the words were said the entire crowd began to disperse as fast as it appeared. They all went to their milling about aside from the infernape, zangoose and grovyle. Out of the chaos came a certain raichu with a pikachu hot on his tail.

"Hey you wouldn't believe all the interesting aura beings in this place!" He exclaimed. "We even got to meet a kangaskhan, just like we always wanted!" He finished practically bouncing up and down.

Aura beings... there's that phrase again. That must be the formal term some pokemon use to refer to each other I thought.

"Zenen, Zin, your both okay." Inari said with relief obvious in her voice. "Well I see that based on the crowds reaction to you, you've been talking to the local populous." Inari stated breaking the slightly touching reunion as fast as it began.

"Come on, you know how I am in new places. Everyone has a story." The raichu claimed. "You just have to ask twenty two times to get it." He added.

"And poke them with a stick an additional three times!" The pikachu stacked on.

"You did not poke someone with a stick." Inari stated dully.

"Yes, they did." The infernape watching stated gruffly."The entire yard knows of their existence now because of that little skit.

"Who is this?" Inari asked as I started scanning the yard for someplace quiet and solitary.

"Oh, him?" The raichu asked. "Him and the other two with him are like the self designated police for the place, and we're the best of buds. He likes to follow us around watching everything we do with utmost scrutiny. You know, the usual fan stuff." He explained dismissively.

I mentally took note of the conversation while I looked around seeing as there was little else to do at the time. As I looked around I noted one spot hidden away in a corner that seemed to be deserted aside from a single creature. Upon closer inspection It was a flygon though something was off about it.

I dismissed it for the time being and looked around some more. I got a pretty decent feel for the layout of the yard. It seemed to be one large custom biome with oval stone walls twenty or so feet high around it that loomed over the one beholding them. There was one tower to the back watching over the yard with view of the whole space. The place had no roof or anything to stop flying pokemon from fleeing, which stuck me as odd since there seemed to be a few that could do just that.

"So i'll assume that since you know these two you'll be watching them then." The infernape said, his words pulling me from my examination back to the conversation that I really wasn't a part of to begin with.

"I can try, but don't expect any miracles." Inari replied shifting from paw to paw like she wanted to say something else but didn't.

"That will have to do." The infernape said tiredly before walking away with the Grovyle and zangoose trailing behind.

I watched the small group walk off until they were a little ways away. Once they were out of earshot Inari began speaking in a urgent and hushed tone to the pikachu and raichu.

"What did you guys learn? Is there a way out of here? Tell me everything you know." She hissed.

"Easy there, slow down." The raichu said as if speaking to a panicked civilian. "We did gain a choice bit of info from the local inmates if you will. The only real thing keeping us here besides the walls and guards is a gravity field being generated by some kind of pokemon most likely." The raichu explained. "It keeps anything from flying or climbing above the walls."

"Another piece of info we gained is that the aura restricting collars we wear are tough but not indestructible." The pikachu chimed in. "Some fella didn't like it here, so they broke it with no small amount of effort and tried escaping. Sadly for him he was deemed a hazard and shot with a lethal round from a guard. It's apparently a common story around here."

"That's all good info, but do you have any ways out yet?" Inari inquired. "I may have said something stupid to someone I shouldn't have, and i'd really like to get out of here as fast as possible."

"How could you have said something stupid to someone if you just got to the yard now?" The pikachu asked scratching his head like he was puzzled by a taxing dilemma.

"Bozo with the horn here, has ties with the wrong kind of people." Inari responded making a gesture to me.

"Umm, so which one of you is Zenen and which is Zin? Because we never got that far." I said hoping to not approach the subject that was brought up.

"Does he always change the subject like that?" The raichu whispered to Inari making me feel self conscious.

"You have no idea." She replied in a low tone.

"I'm right here and can hear you you know." I said not liking the way they were addressing me.

"You don't even try to answer most questions instead opting to change the subject just as said." Inari said calling me out on my behavior.

While I stammered trying to find a proper response she then began talking about the very subject I wanted to avoid. She explaining everything that happened in the cell from the appearing of the hooded man, his being able to understand us, and to his departure.

"Anyway, apparently Izan's some kind mutation of a human turned absol." Inari stated to top off her explanation.

"Please do not call me mutation, abomination, experiment, or anything relating to freak." I listed in response to Inari's monologue hoping to put any insulting labels behind me.

"Okay." The raichu said simply leading to an awkward silence. "So how does emotional wreck number two sound?" He asked.

"Excuse me?" I asked, caught slightly off guard by his response.

"Oh come on, it's quite obvious." The raichu replied casually. And don't even get me started on when you basically cried because Inari yelled at you before we were caught."

"You know what? Fine." I declared giving up on even trying to defend myself. "But if that's how it's going to be, then who's emotional wreck number one, huh?"

As I had asked this both Zenen and Zin instantly pointed to Inari.

"Hey!" She exclaimed looking quite annoyed. "I really don't need this from you two right now!"

"Look, you three can play happy campers and or escape squad all you want, but i'm going to find somewhere quite where I can sulk on how my life is ruined no matter what I do at this point." I declared, deciding that I didn't want to deal with small talk or conversation anymore.

As I turned to leave I could tell they were all giving me odd looks. I randomly set off towards a direction keeping a good distance between me any pokemon in the area. It was like one large recess and they were everywhere making my trek all the more difficult.

The more I thought about it, I realized it was true what I said. Even if I escaped my life was in tatters with little to no hope for redemption or chance at helping the others now involved. Several pokemon were casting glances my way as I walked, but none approached thankfully.

My thoughts then went to Lilly after a bit. She was dragged into this as well. I would be the first to admit that I didn't have as strong of feelings about Lilly as she apparently did me, if anything I cherished the moments I didn't have to deal with her. No matter how I looked at it though, she was my sister and I don't know what had happened to her. At least Inari had met back up with her group I thought to myself.

After some time I found myself at the corner where the flygon was resting. I was thankful that it was quite here, though there was something off about this flygon. Looking at it up close it's wings were the wrong color and shape, but that wasn't all. It seemed to have a light shade of blue for it's hide color as well as had thicker stronger front legs. I had seen plenty of flygon in my online battle simulations to know that this wasn't normal, but at the same time I felt like I had seen it's odd features many times before.

I found myself standing there observing the creature. It wasn't long before the flygon had opened it's eyes and turned to look at me. We just looked at each other for a time with me becoming very uncomfortable as if this creature was looking right through me.

Why did all my first encounters have to be so odd?

"Umm, i'm so sorry to have bothered you." I stated slowly. "I'll just leave you alone, if that's what you wish." I said turning to leave, the flygon staring at me the whole time.

"Well you're a curious one, aren't you?" I heard it say. It's voice was very smooth, almost melodic.

"You bear the scar of a warrior but do not carry yourself so." It continued now moving closer to me. It took me a moment to figure out what the flygon had meant. I then remembered that there was a scar over my eye since this wasn't my original body.

Before I knew it the flygon had moved quickly into my path and was looking me up and down. If I felt uncomfortable before, now I felt like a meal on display.

"It's a strange thing for one such as yourself to be so far from your natural home." The flygon said sniffing my general direction. "Perhaps maybe you're lost?" It said seeming to be pondering.

I just looked at it not fully sure how to even respond. My mind had just blanked when trying to find an excuse.

In the blink of an eye, the flygon moved close and stuck it's nose into my neck fur inhaling deeply.

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up a second!" I said almost pleading and trying to get away from the creature. "I grew up with a sister that did a lot of weird things that I really don't need from strangers." I complained feeling completely violated.

"Fascinating... no smell of the wild or the normal aggressive reaction for your species." It said tilting it's head slightly to the side. "And a sister you say? Absol will normally raise only one child at a time."

"Uhh, I had a twin." I said quickly to which the strange flygon just watched me intently as though I was lying.

"So, why do you look like that?" I asked referring to the flygon's odd features. It had occurred to me that I was pulling the same maneuver that Inari and the other two had just accused me of using too often, but I always found the conversations that included me to be undesirable.

"Yes, so you speak of my unique form then?" It inquired though a bit apprehensive. "I'm afraid I can't tell you exact details. I can only say that I was a product of human testing to make a hybrid of the species flygon, and salamence. They called it DNA splicing I believe." The creature explained it's voice sounding smooth and silky as ever.

After having that explained to me I could see it clear as day now. I was honestly surprised that I had not seen it sooner, and in all honesty felt a little ashamed. The wings were more akin to crimson crescent shapes than the diamond shape of a flygon, and the stronger front legs were a tribute to salamences quadruped form. Topping it all off the flygon's color was that of a salamence as well.

"I see, but why are you here in the corner alone?" I asked actually curious why this was one of the few spots that seemed quiet and solitary.

"Your mystery grows ever more." It stated cryptically. "You can't be from the wild, and yet you don't know the customs of urban life either. It's almost like your not even an absol. Everything about you is somehow... off." It concluded.

"Errm." I sounded a little uncomfortable, but intrigued none the less by the perception of this creature.

"However, I guess you asked a question, and I wouldn't want to be rude now." It claimed. "I'm alone here because being subject to gene splicing is basically a sentence to a life alone. I'm am neither flygon nor salamence, for my blood is tainted and has shown through upon my evolution." It stated sounding almost sad for a moment.

"That's actually depressing, but in all honesty I like seclusion." I responded.

"Well at least one of your traits follows your species behavior." It said letting out a small chuckle.

"Welcome to the ward of rejects and stowaways. I can tell you are new here, of that i'm certain. I am known as Evala." The flygon hybrid said in a proper greeting.

"I'm Izan, thanks I guess." I responded freely. Something told me I could trust this creature. "Evala sounds like a girl name, does that mean you're a female?" I asked since I had no way to tell.

"Why yes, isn't it obvious?" Evala responded sounding a bit offended. "And why would you need to know, are you attracted to me?" Evala added getting a little too close to me and holding eye contact.

"I, I, I was just curious. I didn't mean it to come off like that." I stuttered unable to hold eye contact anymore looking to the ground instead.

Evala let out melodic giggle at my reaction.

"Your just too cute." She declared causing my face to burn up and giving me a very uneasy feeling in my stomach.

"But, I ahh, what." I stammered.

"Relax a little, i'm just messing with you. Do feel free to stop by my corner anytime, I don't mind having someone to talk too." The dragon claimed in her smooth voice.

"Right, i'll definitely keep that in mind." I said regaining my composure. "Was a pleasure meeting you." I finished taking a small bow that was a little awkward in my absol body and turning to leave.

* * *

 **And we welcome a new character that has been introduced by name, being the flygon/salamence hybrid Evala. I'm not sure why, but I always imagined if flygon could talk, that it's voice would be very smooth sounding. You know, kind of like it would belong as a motherly narrator's voice for a night time story. Am I alone in this? (Probably.) I introduced this character because I mentioned gene splicing in an earlier chapter, and wanted to put just a little emphasis on it.**

 **I'd also like to say as an end note, that you guys have no idea how long I would just stare at this document and then put it on the back burner. Took way longer than it should have. (This may remain a trend if I don't change my disposition.)**

 **Take care all of you out there!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello. I already stated that i'll be uploading at my own speed, so just bear with me. I was never patient so I guess it's a bit hypocritical of me to ask that, but it's also my excuse for being so slow. I'm by no means a fast writer, and in my impatience that turns me off of sitting at a computer and writing a story.**

 **I'll admit It's a little unfair of me as well, to be inactive for so long and not let anyone know if i'm alive or not. Heck I don't even really talk to those I'd consider friends on here, instead I ghost because I'm well, let's just say "special"... This is my apology in advance if I disappear, because i'll be honest, if I do leave, I won't leave a trace or warning. (I'm solitary and alone by choice, but I live.) Sorry about that, but I wanted to be open with anyone who reads my story to this point. Now, I shall begin with the chapter, but not before a bit of lore as compensation for anyone who was stuck waiting on my update. And maybe spoilers if you have a good enough eye to spot them.**

* * *

 _(The Curse of Arceus.)_

 _"Great, you're here! Now we may begin in earnest."_

 _"Listen closely, and I will tell you the story of Arceus's curse."_

 _"It was a long time ago that humans were in touch with aura. They were adapt to the point that they thought themselves superior to all other life forms. With their power and abilities they soon reigned supreme on the power chain."_

 _"Eventually, they began to forge civilizations that forced their fellow aura beings to serve them."_

 _"The aura beings desperate and broken by the iron will and skill of their oppressors, had sent a chosen emissary who's name was lost to the ages to find the legend Ho-oh, as a plead for help."_

 _"Long and hard the journey was, though it was not in vain."_

 _"Ho-oh, after having heard the chosen hero's pleads, had decided that humans were deemed unfit to live as equals to their fellow aura siblings, and in response contacted Arceus for judgement on behalf of the hero's request."_

 _"Arceus having been awoken did not condone the humans acts of arrogance and passed judgement. Arceus set to work laying a curse on humans that cut their aura synapses, this had rendered them unable to use aura or understand it's language in anyway."_

 _"Human kind was thrown into disarray and chaos, they went from great empires to nothing more then savages, with no formal speech or way to communicate. The human race was to become known as, the fallen."_

 _"With nowhere else to turn, the rabble of mankind went to their scholars and sages who in response to Arceus's curse developed the language of man. However by the time mankind had stabilized their race, the damage had been done. Humans were no longer seen as equals to those they once abused, becoming looked down on as nothing more then filth."_

 _"Mankind however didn't roll over. Using their iron will and pride as motivators, they pushed forward to prove they still held a place in this world. With more determination than ever they began forging weapons and technology, their goal being to level the field with there former brethren of aura. It would only be a matter of time before they sought to regain their former power over the lands. Just as the aura beings looked down on mankind as fallen, mankind saw monsters with power they wanted restored to them."_

 _"Mankind would not be denied..."_

 _"Even to this day the more zealous of mankind will still refer to the aura beings as monsters, just as some aura beings refer to humans as fallen."_

 _"And so this is the story that the scriptures of ancient times tell us, though it is unknown exactly what had happened in the times of oh so long ago, and is only speculation."_

 _"Take note when you read the lines of this time. This is a story of judgement. It is not a story of justice, and it is not a set of morals to follow, it is but a rupture and a tear that has caused so much strife and suffering. For this is the story of Arceus's curse, not, his blessing. In these days of darkness, judgement was written in the folds of time for all who lived to witness it."_

 _"Any questions?"_

 _..._

 _"Who am I you ask?"_

 _..._

 _"Of course, I see then, it's a perfectly viable question. You don't need to get yourself all worked up, I assure you that I am not offended. I would be happy to tell you, but i'm afraid your time here has reached it's end. Fair you well, and don't forget what I have shared with you on the course of your journey."_

(Pov, Izan)

With a start, I leapt from my spot which I slept Coming face to face with Inari who quite frankly looked freaked out by my reaction. She stood stock still for a moment.

"Are you okay, you look like you just saw a gengar." She stated the hackles on her neck slowly lowering from the initial shock.

I took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"I'm fine, I just had a strange dream is all." I responded.

"Oh, I see." She mumbled. "I just wanted to say, that we're most likely going to be taken to the yard again soon. You would be in for a rude awakening if they came while you slept."

Of course yesterday when the day was done, the guards had secured us once more from the yard for night time turn in. Being taken back to the cells was an unpleasant experience to say the least. I could've sworn that the security guard that apprehended me again was like some kind of special forces agent based off his technique.

"Hey Inari, would you mind if I asked you a question?" I said a bit hesitantly.

"Huh?" She lightly sounded.

"Have you ever heard of Arceus's curse?" I asked my words giving a slight echo in the silent room.

After a short moment of silence Inari answered although a bit slowly.

"It's an old folk tale from a time long ago passed down from generation to generation, but I don't know how you could have possibly heard about it given your past." She said with a bit of caution as if approaching a dangerous topic.

"Well, I mean... I see. You don't have to say anything else about it if you don't want to." I replied letting silence fill the room once more. I could tell Inari was hesitant because of me in some way, but I didn't know the exact reason.

The rest of my morning in the cell seemed to creep at an extremely slow pace. I was almost relieved when the doors had opened with the guards ready to take us to the yard.

On sight of the guard who had apprehended me yesterday I quickly lowered my head looking to the ground as to not look him in the eye.

"What is up with you, today?" Inari half asked half growled to me while she bite at the control pole that the other officer was attempting to put on her.

"I would really rather not talk about it." I said still looking to the ground as the officer put the control pole on me with no trouble due to my lack of resistance.

"Change of heart have we? Well after your past transgressions I'm afraid I've got my eye on you now." The officer with my control pole stated making me wince from the bad memories of yesterday flooding into my mind. When the guards were returning the pokemon to their cells, I for one didn't go quietly. In the process resisting capture I also learned that absol have a horrendous pressure point where their horn connects with the skull.

The escort to the yard was agonizing, I couldn't wait for it to be done... or so I thought.

The moment we reached the yard, almost every eye there was on me. I swore I must have visibly flinched back and cringed at the stares that were shot at me. A few of the pokemon in the yard were whispering to each-other too while looking my way.

"What did I miss?" Inari asked sounding nervous.

Of course Inari didn't know what happened since she was returned to the cell before me. All she knew was the aftermath based on how I was returned to the cell sedated.

"You can relax, it's not you they are looking at." I said looking down towards the ground and letting out a long sigh to calm myself.

As I said this an excited "Hey there!" Sounded out trumpeting the arrival of Zennen and Zin the raichu and pikachu that Inari knew.

"Hey Izan!" Zennen cheered a little too upbeat even for him. "So how you feeling after getting-"

Before he even had a chance to finish something in my mind just snapped.

"SAY, JUST ONE More word, and I'll gut you here and now!" I said sounding more menacing then I ever thought I could.

Zennen flinched for a second while Zin ran and hid behind Inari cowering in fear. After seeing this Zennen seemed to get a warning glint in his eye. His playful behavior now a bit more steeled he continued against my words.

"Whoa there, maybe you should just calm down a bit!" Zennen responded. "But then again, I can see why you'd want to put that behind you." He began.

"I'm warning you Zennen, you keep this up and you won't speak again." I grumbled, not sure why he would so openly oppose my warning. Why was he not getting that I just wanted to put the events of yesterday behind me?

"And you'll what, attack me, wouldn't want to attract the guards attention now would you." He spat at me. A circle of pokemon were now forming around the confrontation.

"Zennen maybe we should just drop this, your taking this too far." Zin squeaked from behind Inari who seemed to be lost and breathing faster than normal not sure what to do in this situation.

"You should listen to your brother." I growled letting my anger towards Zennen stat to get the better of me. I started to lower my stance for combat. I could see Evala watching off in the distance very attentively. For now I shrugged it off as murmurs started to form in the crowd.

"Come on fallen scum, you think you have the guts to teach me a lessen, you don't have it in you!" Zennen called out taking a step forward.

If the whole of the pokemon in the yard weren't watching yet, they were now I noted.

"Zennen, I've known you for a long time and i'll stand up for you if push comes to shove, but please drop this." Inari pitched in hurriedly.

Of course she would help Zennen if I attacked him I thought sending a sideglance to Inari. If this proceeds i'll have to assume her an obstacle. I could tell that the guards were starting to move around as well. It was like my instincts were in overdrive, I was quickly losing control and paranoia was starting to set in.

" **No Inari!** You know what he is, you were the one who learned about it before any of us!" Zennen yelled.

Zennen's word choice began to put me further on edge as he clearly had little to no respect for my secret.

"What are you talking about, you were completely fine with this yesterday." Inari said now sounding flustered.

At that moment, Zennen turned to Inari and began to speak. It was like time came almost to a stop for me. His words began to echo in my mind like an empty cavern shocking me out of the anger that was clouding my mind. "Look at him Inari, he's vicious and is losing control. He's even scared Zin, and I can't forgive that." Zennen stated sounding resolute.

As he finished speaking I noticed during the last part with my hightend perception that a small tear was forming under his eye. Not only that, but he was right. I wasn't acting like myself at all. In this mindset I might not have been able to stop myself from seriously hurting Zennen or someone else.

I lowered my head in shame. Not only did I lose control, but any action I made would have been futile. There were too many variables stacked against me. If I were in my right state of mind I would have noticed that. If I had lashed out there is no telling how the onlookers would have responded, and not just the guards but the pokemon as well. Even now I could see some of them giving me nasty looks.

"I see then." I said solemnly causing all the murmuring to stop as all eyes were now on me.

"Zennen, I asked you to stop, and you wouldn't, but I also see that my behavior and the way I asked was uncalled for." I said as an apology now that I had the limelight.

Everyone just looked at me as if a bomb could go off any minute. Zennen just looked confused and unsure how to respond.

"Zin." I spoke.

As I said this the pikachu looked out from his hiding place but made no other move. I took one step forward but made no further advance as my action seemed to already put Zennen on edge.

"It is to you most of all, that it seems I owe the apology here, I am sorry that I scarred you and it was a bad gesture on my part. I hope that you would someday forgive me." I stated to make amends.

It took all my willpower to not choke on my own words after how worked up I had gotten. It felt like I was going against every logical reason I could think of at the time, but I also knew that if I kept a clear mind this never would have happened. Could this be some withdraw syndrome from being transformed?

I then turned to the crowd and began to walk towards the corner that I had met Evala. As I walked the crowd parted and began to disperse as quickly as It grew.

It's way to early for this I thought to myself while ignoring the stares that I knew were following me. I certainly didn't score any points with the only people I knew by name here either.

When I reached the corner I laid down and closed my eyes.

"You know, you don't fool me with that act you pulled at the end their, and I doubt you fooled everyone else there either." A familiar smooth voice stated.

I opened my eyes and looked over to see Evala looking at me.

"I could see it in your eyes, you were in fact losing control. You were giving in to your primal emotions." She stated in a foreboding voice. "Some in the crowd could sense it too, especially the raichu you confronted. You can still feel a tension on the air."

"What are you talking about?" I asked even though I already knew just what she was talking about. I could tell I was completely out of control with my emotions.

"Izan." She said pausing. "I'm a dragon by blood, we are one of the only types of aura beings with genes that are still fully in touch with emotional triggers as primal as what you showed just moments ago. We can sense it and recognize it far better than anyone. Izan, you weren't just angry, if whatever stopped you from lashing out didn't, you would have went into a blind rage." Evala finished looking just a tad anxious.

"Then you can call me intrigued." I said lightly, even if in my mind I was freaking out at the time. I had only been in this body for a few days now, what if I was having some kind of backlash. That encounter was not normal for me, even in my flustered state. What if something was really wrong with me?

"Well it's an intriguing situation, after all I'm quite intrigued I must say." Evala hummed no longer looking the least bit worried. "However were I in your position, I'd probably be freaking out right about now." She claimed leaning in a bit to scan my face for any reaction.

Really nailed that one on the head didn't she I thought to myself, amused by how easily she could understand the situation.

"I must warn you however that this means only one thing. That you are dangerous and unpredictable." Evala declared. "I mean, so long as you don't attune to the emotions your feeling."

"You don't mean to tell me that you think this will become a recurring thing do you?" I asked slightly worried now as it dawned on me just how inconvenient that this would really be.

Evala then stretched out watching me closely with a smirk. She was clearly amused by me in some way shape or form.

"Evala?" I spoke in an inquiring tone while I scraped a foot in the dirt.

"Hmm?" She responded.

"Your starting to make me uncomfortable." I outright confessed knowing that since she seemed to have some kind of mental clairvoyance, being amused by me meant she either knew something about me or was planing something.

"I don't see why you wouldn't be uncomfortable. I mean it must be a horrifying thought to know you could lose control at any moment." She said in a lax and laid back tone which I had never heard her use before putting me a little on edge.

"I suppose, that would be a concern yes." I said cautiously. I could tell she was clearly steering this conversation the way she wanted it to go.

"If only you knew someone who could teach you to regain control of your emotions and had experience with such a problem." She began moving her flexible tail to brush under her chin as though in thought.

"What are you talking about? That interaction you witnessed earlier was just a fluke. Besides, what do I look like, a child?" I replied instinctively with a bit of bite to my tone.

"Now there is no reason to be touchy with me, I just want to help you out." Evala went on, now circling me not unlike a bird of prey.

"Well if that's so, could you go about doing it without trying to pierce my soul with your gaze." I countered eliciting a melodic giggle from Evala.

"There, there, relax a bit, i'm here to support you, you can tell me your problems." Evala cooed.

She sat down near me and began using the talon on her foreleg to stroke down my back like a mother would do to comfort her daughter or son.

This is getting ridiculous I thought my mind racing while trying to think of a way to leave that didn't involve running away and looking even more ridiculous than I already did.

"I don't have problems." I snapped with emphasis on the word problems. "Now could you tell me what you are plotting at already?" I inquired with annoyance.

"Ahh, so you don't have problems." Evala stated putting emphasis on the word problems as it was now clearly the special word in this conversation. "So you let your emotions get the better of you often then? Do you like acting like a child just because something doesn't go your way? Evala asked to passive aggressively interrogate me.

 **"I SAID I DON"T HAVE PROBLEMS!"** I yelled getting the attention of a few bystanders near the area. The whole scenario gave me an odd sense of deja vu.

"Izan, I understand that your lashing out, but I can't help you if you don't tell me what's the matter." Evala said actually sounding genuine with her words.

Before I knew it, I began to chuckle. Before long I was full on laughing like I was crazy.

"My problems, my life, and even my body." I choked out still laughing. "If I were to tell you what was wrong, you wouldn't even believe me it's so twisted." I coughed out my breathing becoming haggard. I must have looked like I had gone completely mad, but quite frankly I didn't care anymore.

Evala continued to stroke the fur across my back in a comforting manner.

"None of these pokemon bystanders could possibly understand what it's like the things i'm going through right now!" I declared raising my voice. I didn't care anymore weather anyone outside of the conversation heard me anymore.

Evala stopped her motions and got up looking down on me.

"Listen Izan, you need to get a grip on yourself." Evala stated harshly. "It's clear as day to anyone willing to look for it that you're under a lot of pressure. The recent events you've had in the yard may have triggered your behavior, but the events themselves aren't why you lost your cool are they Izan? Evala Inquired. "I think you need to tell someone what's really bothering you." Evala said before I had a chance to answer. "If you don't, I have reason to believe your actions and emotions will only become more erratic until it's resolved."

"there's no way you could know that!" I snapped in anger rendering my argument invalid.

I groaned in defeat and frustration as my head started to ache. Putting my face in the dirt with my fore-paws on the back of my head I laid their wanting nothing more than to have it all end then and there.

Evala took the opportunity to close the distance leaning in closely.

"I would like to propose a deal with you." She stated no longer a stern as before. I could tell she was invading my personal space again judging by the fact I could feel the wind of her breath on the top of my head. At this point I was used to this kind of treatment so I pushed it aside. After a moment I decided to lift my head coming face to face with the flygon salamence hybrid.

"I'm listening" I mumbled now that I was no longer acting deranged.

"You see, i'm a flygon salamence hybrid." She declared pausing and waiting for some response from me.

"Go on." I urged dully.

"What you don't know is that some hybrids, particularly dragon hybrids tend to have older more primal genes reawakened due to the unstable build of their new body structure, but that's not my point. What i'm saying is, that the splicing I was subject to caused my violent dragon nature to become more active. Of course I doubt this is really the same situation, but I can empathize with the fact that something has been greatly changed in your life." Evala explained.

"Let's say your right about something being greatly changed." I responded crossing my fore paws in front of me. "Do go on." I urged.

"Well after observing you today and yesterday it's clear to me that you are uncomfortable with your body, your good at hiding it but I can still tell. Some aura beings go through evolution, but absol can't evolve. That's not the crisis your going through, no. You have no sign of gene splicing so that's not it either. However you said during your rant that your body and life were essentially on par with your problems, which leaves me to think they are one in the same thing. Am I close?" Evala questioned to end her speech.

"You could tell all of that in two days of interaction, I must say i'm actually impressed." I stated honestly from where I was laying. "You mentioned a deal." I said to show I was still interested.

"I'll mentor you in controlling your current emotions and be the only one here who doesn't treat you like a leper for a start." She declared.

"Thanks for being blunt." I spoke showing my rebuke.

"Of course I have a price." She warned head slightly turned with one eye watching me for any reaction.

"I'd expect no less." I claimed having no clue what she could ask for.

"I want you to tell me a story." She demanded getting down to my level looking right at me now as we both lay on the dirt of the compound.

"A story?" I asked feeling a little bushwhacked.

"Yes, a story, more specifically... your story." The hybrid clarified confirming my suspicions.

"You really want to hear my story huh?" I inquired slightly shifting in my spot. "You sure that it's really something you'd be interested in?" I asked.

For the most part I felt she was trust worthy, and due to her current situation was the least likely to gossip to others about me, but I would need more insurance. I didn't know her well enough to share that info.

"Most definitely." She replied sternly while looking me dead in the eye the whole while.

"And what if I were to say that I didn't agree to your deal." I asked waiting for any revealing reaction while keeping a shaded eye on her.

As I said this Evala quickly became a little crestfallen, and it showed.

"I guess you don't trust me" she replied. She said seeming to lose all tenseity in her muscles. Evala gave one swish of her crimson tipped tail silently staring me down.

"Don't get me wrong Evala, but my story is not for the ears of strangers. I'm sorry. The only reason Inari learned of my secret was because she was in the right place at the right time." I explained apologetically.

It had only crossed my mind afterwards that I may have already shared too much info by saying that Inari knew my secret. I also directly confirmed that I did in fact have a secret. Not that this fact was very hidden to those who read between the lines at this point in time so I pushed that worry to the side.

"Well I would still like to help you, assuming you would let me." She responded regaining her composure. "I can't have you getting put in solitary confinement on poor behavior, or I wouldn't have someone to talk with anymore." The hybrid concluded with a light huff.

"You know you always catch me off guard." I sighed a feeling of being lost overcoming me. "You won't drop this will you?" I asked just a little bit of my exasperation showing.

"So do you want my help or no?" Evala inquired with another swish of her tail.

"I don't know how you plan to help me without knowing about the problem, but if you want go for it, go ahead." I said questioning in my mind weather this would waste my time.

"Invitation enough." Evala stated. "First off, I want to point out that in your current state, you are in fact behaving like a child when you lash out." Evala chided sounding a little more condescending than when she started.

"Am not." I countered with lazy sarcasm.

"And i'm not even going to begin with explaining how you've proven my point." She continued.

"If your going to try to help me, could you not start by insulting me?" I snapped feeling the hairs on the back of my neck rising.

"I didn't insult you, I said when you lose control you behave like a child." Evala said making a sweeping motion as she moved about three meters away but keeping eye contact with me.

What is she doing, playing games? I thought as I got up off the ground.

"Tell me Izan, when you were forcing that apology to Zin, did it feel like you had a lump in your throat that was trying to stop you from speaking?" Evala asked making it sound more like an interrogation than a question.

"Of course, I was angry at the time and it took all my will power to keep a level head. It felt like I was doing exactly the opposite of what my body was saying to do." I replied with honesty trying my hardest to hide the edge in my voice as I recalled the events not that long ago.

"It's called pride Izan, and if you want my help you're going to have to leave it behind as your first step." She declared slightly lowering to the ground.

"Pride, I don't know what you're talking about, I have many flaws and I know that." I responded raising my voice a bit.

"You are modest Izan, but you are anything but humble." Evala countered firmly.

In truth I never thought of it like that, and once again I found myself fascinated by the complexities of the mind that made it past my notice. And once again I found myself impressed by the Flygon's perception and insight at the same time.

"You make quite a fascinating argument Evala." I mused in response to her.

"You see my point it seems, but i'm afraid that won't be enough to help you. Now I'm going to have to drive it home. If i'm to help you, I have to crush the last of your will if we are to get anywhere. IZAN, I challenge you to a duel!" She proclaimed slightly dramatically as her lowered stance soon became one that could be interpreted as a battle stance.

What are you thinking Evala, an encounter like this will only draw more attention I thought hesitating slightly.

"Whoa, did the mutant just challenge the absol to a duel!" I heard off to the side. We clearly weren't alone.

"It would seem so, does anyone even know if it can fight?" A different voice claimed.

"I don't know, but should we let the others know?" The first voice inquired excitedly.

"You do what you want, I don't want to miss anything. After this morning i'm hoping to see this new guy knocked down a peg or two." A third voice tuned in.

Of course I couldn't lie to myself, I was curious as to if Evala had any combat experience. Of course I didn't feel like fighting her to find out though. This was a complete grey zone to me, and I didn't know how to proceed.

"Hold it everyone, you know the rules, those who aren't around for the challenge miss out." A gruff voice proclaimed firmly.

Turning my head my eyes then fell on the infernape I had met during my first day in the yard. Zennen had mentioned something along the lines of him and his two friends basically being the police of this place. Speaking of which, the zangoose from the trio was also with him.

"This is their challenge. And besides, drawing a crowd like before will only cause unwanted attention from the guards." The fire ape finished putting his foot down.

A thought then occurred to me, did Evala know that he was nearby and that there was another group to witness this as well? Just how much of this did she plan I had to wonder.

"The rules will be simple." Evala claimed letting silence follow.

"Then state them." I said impatiently since I seemed to be locked into this now.

Evala then rose up onto her hind legs standing at about two and a half meters tall being easily twice my height. Curving her left wing in to settle in front of her left arm with her legs slightly bent she looked like she was holding a shield my direction. Her other wing extended outward behind her and all of her muscles and movements told me that she knew what she was doing to top it all off.

Of course. I thought. Since Evala wasn't a normal flygon, her fighting stance would be completely different than a normal flygon's. As I examined her posture I noticed there was too many unknowns. I didn't know her skill level and couldn't predict her fighting style. If I took this challenge I would surely lose. There was an issue here too though. Evala had trapped me. With the onlookers to witness my response, If I declined the challenge I wouldn't look like a formal being who tries to find the peaceful solution at all. Based on my previous behavior I had shown the public, and the way the challenge was delivered, I'd just look like a coward.

Evala then spoke again breaking my thoughts up.

"The rules will include a different win condition for each of us to compensate for our size difference. For me to win I have to pin you to the ground. And for you to win you have to simply knock me down. I'd say no use of aura, but the bands on us already prevent that, and the field stops me from flying." She stated to explain how this would work.

I wasn't fully sure how I should proceed in all honesty. I knew this fight would be a loss, but my dignity forced me into a situation I had to try.

"Well, what is it going to be, fight or flight? As for the stakes, I'll take your pride when I win." She declared in a challenging tone.

"I choose fight." I responded sounding a bit cold and composed. What the others couldn't outright tell was that I was panicking.

Even though some of the pokemon in the area were mocking or doubting Evala for assuming to use her wing for a shield I knew better. A salamence's wings while flexible, were in fact also quite solid. And not only that, I noted that the fins on her tail were no longer diamond shaped like a flygon's, but rather crescents like a salamence's wings and made of the same material. With her dragon hide and shape she was like a pokemon equivalent of a tank compared to me. She had even came complete with a battle-ax on her tail.

"On my call, you both may begin the fight." The infernape voiced making me look his way once more.

The entire clearing in this part of the yard became dead silent.

I waited anxiously. Time seemed to slow down making every second ticking obnoxiously slow.

I took in every detail, from the sway of the grass, the downward wind hitting the tops of the wall and creating a soft breeze in the open area, to the way Evala shuffled her feet across the ground.

"Fight!" The infernape commanded breaking the momentary calm.

I tensed all my muscles. This was it I thought to myself. It was all or nothing.

The first thing I did was spring back several paces to make more space between us. To my surprise she didn't move a muscle. Was she waiting for me to make the first move I wondered.

Using her docile behavior to my advantage I began to circle at a distance to find a weak point. Once again she didn't move, save to only kept eye contact with me.

By now I was fully unnerved, when I faced Hidone in the battle simulations he behaved in a slightly similar fashion. When I asked why he never struck first he said a veteran fighting a novice need only wait for the novice to put himself in harms way and the fight would be over. Evala is just waiting for me to make a move because she is confident that she can counter me.

I had to test this theory, but how.

Sighing with resignation. I decided that if I didn't want to drag this out and give her an opening I had to fake her out to see what she was capable of. If I messed this up I would most likely take an instant dirt nap.

Moving to her right side I crouched low down and stalked forward, her eyes on me the whole time. As I got closer I made sure to slightly twitch my right foreleg inward just enough to make it obvious. The plan was that she would think I'd jump to the right to avoid her first strike, when I'm really going to jump to the left.

As I got closer I was definitely in her danger zone now. There was no room for any mistakes.

Springing into action I made a small lunge at her defenses to make it seem like I fumbled somewhat forward, I leaned a little to the right side and sprung to the left using all the muscle I could muster in my front legs.

Evala however was to quick on the draw and rather then go for the fake out she made an advance in the direction I leaped with a talon extended my direction.

Crap I thought panicking, in the split second this was all happening. If she got a hold of me, she could probably win with brute strength alone.

Seeing a small opening in her assault I had two options, stand my ground and fight head on or duck under her left side. In the heat of the moment since I didn't want to be slammed into the ground I sprung forward ducking under her left side.

Evala quickly twisted her body about ninety degrees to her right swinging her tail right into my trajectory.

With a thud I felt a burning pain spread across my chest as I collided with Evala's tail head on effectively close lining me. The sheer force of the impact sent me flying backward about three meters, leaving me rolling across the ground. Barely stabilizing myself I griped onto the ground with my forelegs to stop my momentum leaving skid marks in the dirt.

Shaking my head and looking up Evala was already making a rush at me while I was disoriented.

With a grunt of annoyance I made a dash to the side to avoid her full on charge.

"Look at him, he's running, he can't even fight back!" Someone called discouragingly from the sidelines.

"Boring, fight already!" Another called.

Growling in frustration I kicked a small stone to the side during the small breather I got.

Picking up speed I began to circle Evala once more since I couldn't strike her from the front. This time I kept going with as much speed as I could build until I was Behind her left side so the wing she used as a shield wasn't blocking her back.

I only had to knock her off her feet, so if I could use enough force while hitting her on a diagonal trajectory she'd fall on her side giving me the win.

Pushing off the ground for hopefully the last time I launched myself right at the core of her body in an attempt to topple her.

Everything moving as though a blur my target quickly became the equivalent of a Victreebell's waiting maw.

Evala once again ready for my advance did something I didn't even expect was physically possible for her. Slightly ducking her left side in for recoil she did a full body twist leaping off the ground.

I was flying right into a full on mid flight bear hug and there was no way to prevent it. As I began to flail in the air trying to futilely stop myself Evala grabbed hold of the area just above where my left foreleg connected with my body and continued her spiral leaving me below her now rather than above her. A feeling of complete realization washed over me like a bucket of ice poured over my head that I had just lost.

Doing all I could to brace myself for the inevitable which wasn't much I was slammed forcefully into the ground left coughing and breathing hard.

"By all that's holy, did you see that?" Someone whispered in the crowd.

"Oh come on, amazing acrobatics aside the battle sucked, it was too one sided. The absol dropped the ball, i'm out of here." Someone else claimed to which the small crowd began to disperse.

Regaining my senses from the fall I still felt a pressure on my side. Struggling for a bit with the energy I still had, I gave up. Glancing up I saw that Evala was looming over me still holding me down with an amused expression.

"I win." She chimed.

"Get off me!" I snapped.

"Hmm, I don't think so, I think you have still yet to bend to my will." She casually replied.

"What are you talking about." I rebuked.

"I'm saying this was all an act of futility, If i'm to help you, I need you to recognize me as an authority figure." Evala explained.

"Are you trying to say this was an act to prove dominance." I growled struggling once more.

"No fooling you, also I did prove dominance, you just haven't accepted it yet." She replied while watching me struggle with amusement in her eyes.

"Well I for one think this experiment needs to end." I grunted trying to get some form of leverage from my position by getting my legs under me.

"Trust me, I can keep this up for much longer than you can." Evala chimed.

Using all my muscles I pushed up as hard as I could. Despite the fact Evala must have weighed two hundred pounds I found I was actually able to get about a foot off the ground before falling flat on my stomach with my front forelegs sprawled out.

"Even if you had the strength to lift me, you are hardly in the position to do so Izan." Evala chided while I pushed off the ground again not making as mush progress as the first time.

"Arrg, **FINE** , I give up! What do you want from me?" I wheezed out with exasperation in my exerted state.

"I want hear you say something." She answered cryptically.

"You're killing me." I groaned dramatically.

"Here's what you're going to say, I am but a child and Evala is my chaperone for a start. What she says goes, and I can talk to her about my feelings and problems when they arise." Evala Declared.

"Come on, there's no way i'm saying that, I have standards!" I complained.

"Those standards are the exact thing I'm trying beat out of you Izan." Evala stated in a matter of fact tone. "I think the reason you like seclusion so much Izan is because no one is your ruler that way. You were most likely the master of your own little world you lived in. You chose to ignore your surroundings and those who lived in them. You hoped they'd do the same. Well i'm sorry to say that you can't get by on that behavior anymore, the game board has been reset in a matter of speaking." She concluded repositioning herself so that she wouldn't cramp from staying in one pose for too long.

"I didn't ask to be dragged into my position, I went kicking and screaming, life sucks and is not fair." I claimed with finality.

"So are you talking about the literal position where your bright coat of fur is being pressed into the dirt, or the metaphorical position you've been put in where some mysterious event you don't want to talk to me about turned you life upside down?" Evala inquired melodically seeming all to happy with herself.

"You know what? Both!" I barked once again pushing off the ground to get Evala off me before falling flat once more.

"You know considering our current confinement I literally have all day." Evala said stretching her wings.

Letting out a roar of frustration I slumped giving up.

"Okay i'll say it if only to get you off of me." I said yielding to the situation.

"Wonderful!" Evala chimed.

Letting out a sigh, I took in my next breath to deliver the sentence provided.

"I am." Was all I was able to say before some tall grass near the edge of the clearing rustled and parted to reveal Inari practically dragging Zennen by the arm with her maw.

"Ow, ow, OW!" Zennen whined as Inari tugged. "I said I don't wanna!" He exclaimed.

"You will apologize, and you will like it." Inari growled through her grip on Zennen.

"Ow, ow, fine just let me go, I think your bite is stronger than you realize." Zennen quipped.

"Good, then you'll remember it for the next time you taunt someone to the point they want to kill you, because if you scare me with an act like that again, they won't be the one you should fear. Now Izan should be somewhere in this corner of the yard." She said turning her head to scan the clearing with Zennen. Naturally the first thing their eyes locked onto was me being crushed into the ground by Evala.

"Um, is this a bad time?" Inari asked with Zennen trying his hardest to hide a chuckle. I could only imagine what was going through his mind at the time, and I could tell the amount of remarks he could come up with on the spot was more than I could bear.

"Yes!" I piped up while Evala chirped the exact opposite causing me attempt to glare at her in annoyance from my position.

"Uh, I heard varying degrees of maybe, so i'm going to assume we're good." Inari spoke somewhat awkwardly. "Zennen has something to say to you." She declared.

"So are you always at odds with the ladies, or are you just a masochist?" Zennen jested earning him a smack on the back of the head from Inari.

"What is wrong with you?" She scolded Zennen while I just sat there in utter embarrassment. By all that is good and pure in this world, if Lilly is still alright, I hope Zennen never meets her while i'm around I concluded.

"Ow, i'm sorry, but you can't expect me to be serious when he's like that." Zennen stated pointing a paw at my prone form.

"Evala, could you please let me go now?" I asked weakly.

To my surprise, she actually let me up.

Getting off the ground and stretching my legs I let out a groan of relief as I could move properly again.

"Thank you." I said nodding to her.

"I'm not that cruel, i'll get you to say it later." Evala claimed happily.

"That sounds absolutely terrible, and will never happen." I responded instantly earning a melodic chuckle from Evala.

"Say what? I'm a little lost." Inari voiced.

"Irrelevant, also if Zennen actually want's to tell me something he can do it, if not I don't think we've really wasted any time considering the fact were prisoners." I stated sounding almost bored.

"See, he's a big boy, he doesn't care." Zennen said turning to leave. He didn't get far before Inari blocked his path looking furious. I could almost feel the waves of malevolence washing past Zennen and hitting me.

"Even if that were true which we both know it's not, you've yet apologize to me as well for almost causing me a panic attack. Hell if I were in Izan's shoes I'd probably have killed you to shut your big mouth!" Inari scolded.

"Ehehehe." I heard Zennen jitter. Were it not for his short fur I'd probably see him sweating profusely, and I didn't blame him.

"Izan, was able to apologize, so why can't you? Where's your sense of honor huh?" Inari jabbed.

"Hey, wait a second, I have plenty of honor!" Zennen vocalized sounding offended.

"Then prove it." Inari rounded.

"Fine!" Zennen spat turning around to face me.

I just looked at him in waiting. During the silence Zennen coughed a couple of times to clear his throat and opening his mouth a couple times to say something but didn't.

"Should I start?" I asked unable to watch this awkward scene any longer. Taking Zennen's silence and confused look as the all clear I decided to go on. "Look Zennen, I've been under a lot of stress and I didn't mean to lash out at you in the way I did and scare your little brother. I guess by secondhand I also owe Inari an apology for being a causing factor in that stressful situation too. I'm sorry." I concluded with sincerity.

After saying this Zennen's face went from confused to soft. Looking down with a sigh, Zennen took in a deep breath and looked back up at me.

"When I learned about your secret Izan, I took it with a grain of salt so you wouldn't know what I was really thinking." Zennen started. "I came from a rather zealous family, and let's just say the morals they instilled in me don't cater to one." Zennen paused looking at Evala shortly and back to me. "One of your lineage." He finished. I heard Evala lightly huff at the words lineage. I knew Zennen was just trying to approach the topic of me being human without revealing it outright to Evala, but Evala wouldn't know that. She just thinks he's racist to absols I thought keeping the best poker face I could to hide my amusement. "Anyway, what I mean is that I'm sorry about the things I said and my poor word choice back there." Zennen said looking back to the ground.

"It would be poor on my part, if I didn't accept your apology after that." I declared holding out my front paw in his direction. Zennen just looked at my paw looking puzzled, as did Inari. I noted from the corner of my eye that Evala was leaning in with an intrigued look on her face too.

"What's wrong." I asked my self conscious feeling thrown off.

"What's that gesture?" Inari asked.

"Uhh... Custom of my people." I stated unsure how to respond with Evala nearby.

"That's a custom used by human's and some bipedal aura beings." Evala chimed sounding proud of herself making me curse my words. "It's a motion my old trainer would use to greet other humans or use as a symbol of understanding between one another." She finished.

"Um, does she know about you too?" Zennen asked pointing a paw at Evala.

"No, but she might as well now!" I said raising my voice with mild frustration.

"The secret where you're not an absol, but actually a human transformed into one by some weird science experiment designed by a mass supported company that's actually evil?" Evala asked innocently.

"How in blazes could you possibly make a guess that specific and expect it to be right." I groaned while Zennen went from holding in a chuckle to laughing hysterically.

"Shall I go into detail, or will you just accept that your secrets out?" Evala asked smugly.

"please do." I quipped in annoyance.

Before, she began to speak Evala quickly scanned the area to see if anyone nearby could hear her. Once she was sure no unwanted listeners were nearby she began to speak.

"Let's see, to start with it's all to obvious that your not a normal absol. Recent events and actions on your part suggest your more attuned to human culture than you are that of aura beings which alone wouldn't prove much. Your's and Zennen's reactions to this conversation however filled out that grey area nicely. If that's still not enough, here's where my knowledge come's into play." Evala claimed while everyone watched her with interest waiting to hear her next words.

"The company that undertook the operation to splice my genes went by the name Sky Tower Corporation. They dabble in basically everything that has to do with changing or altering aura beings. Logic only dictates that they eventually try their hand on their own kind next. They are also the main funder of this compound that we reside in right now, which partially explains why Izan was placed here. Now I'm not sure what your affiliation with Sky Tower is, but I can tell that your a victim and not an organizer." Evala concluded, watching for our reactions.

"Could someone here please tell me, why I seem to have no control over what happens with the information that governs, **MY** life." I groaned before anyone could say anything.

"Now now Izan, remember what I said, you can no longer drift by and ignore what goes on around you." Evala said soothingly putting while a talon on my shoulder. "You have been dragged into something whether you wanted it or not and now you have to roll with the punches."

"Great." I said drawing out the sounds of the word to show my disdain.

"Well now that's out of the way Izan, we needed to speak to you about another thing." Inari said drawing my attention.

"Hmm." I hummed to show I was listening.

"I've been thinking about how we can escape, and I have a plan." Inari stated.

"Wait, you have a plan, why didn't you tell me!" Zennen announced raising his voice.

"Because I only figured out how to pull it off after your confrontation with Izan." Inari shot back.

"Wait, you actually have a way out?" I asked.

"Yes, it's a shot in the dark, and I'm going to need you and Zennen to cooperate." She replied. Me and Zennen exchanged a quick glance.

"I'm in if he's in." I sighed.

* * *

 **I'd say that's all, but I feel like that's an understatement as this is my longest chapter at this time. I would like to know how I did on my first actual battle albeit a short one between Evala and Izan. I'm good at envisioning a fight, but not necessarily explaining one, so any feed back is greatly appreciated. The main thing i'm worried about was the coherence.**

 **Have a great day or night, whichever it is to those who read this!**


	5. Chapter 5 Breaking Boundaries

**Jeeze, did I write this? So I wrote the author's note below this a while before the actual chapter, and now that I look back on it, I decided to keep it in tribute to how chaotic I am. I also kept it because it's partially the truth, which I owe each of you reading my story. Though I must say that some of it is clearly bogus, and I was just lashing out a bit at the time. If you don't want to hear me talk about cryptic and depressing thoughts, than please skip the second author's note and begin reading the story.**

* * *

 **Hey guys, i'm not sure why I write this anymore if i'm to be honest. I don't have the motivation to complete it, and getting praise just seems to bounce right off me. As in i'm not really receptive to it. In truth my burst of energy I got when I wrote my last chapter was more of a second wind. I pushed to get it out to prove I could. I did it to try telling myself something.** **If you're reading this that means I got up Chapter 5, obviously.**

 **I don't know what to say, but i'm here, and I can't change that at the time. I used to suffer heavy depression, now I don't even know what it is i'm feeling. It's a combo of being lost but knowing exactly where you are. Your in a maze, but every turn leads you back to where you started. It's like I know every rock and stone in the maze because I've seen them all so many times. I can't give you guys any real info to my mind without being vague. My profile says that nobody really knows me except my close family. In actuality, I don't think anyone knows me really. We can speak the same language, but you may have grown understand it in a different way then I.**

 **I think the reason I write, is because I can speak my mind in the form of a story. And weather the story is bad, or good, it was my thoughts at the time that brought it life. The characters, the plot, and even the very mood I was in, and way I wrote the story can say a lot. It's all in these docs of writing that if examined the right way, will tell a story of an entity that walks a planet we call earth. And he shared the thoughts that were forced upon him by the motions we call life.**

 **Perhaps, my story can occupy you for a bit, so without any more intrusion, i'll let you read the words I have wrote. After all, they are here, and I put them there, right? It's the time we perceive that kills us, we can only hope that we can steal ourselves away and be lost in the illusion of mind. Don't forget, you will have to wake up sometime.**

* * *

 **(Pov, ?)**

I sat at my desk, my pen scratching across the papers on my desk leaving little blue trails of ink as I finished up the last of the paper work that was required of me for the day. To many others It sounded boring, but I knew my way around the world of pen and paper quite well. A signed contract these days was sometimes all that was between life and death. Now that I think back on it. I may have a little bit of skill on the battling scene too.

Stretching my arms above my head and letting out a groan, several pops from my muscles and joints signaled the fanfare that I was free from my desk chair finally. Business was out, and free time was in. I was a man of age thirty-nine, I really needed to get out more. At least, that's what I would think if I cared about my mental or physical health.

"Gooooonnnngggg!" Sounded out a very enthusiastic Dewgong, causing me to turn my head a light look of tiredness on my face. Next to my desk was a large window looking into a great sized pool aquarium. It shimmered with a light blue wavy pattern into my dark office thanks to the sun shining through the clear water and reflecting off the likewise colored lining of said pool. The glory of being rich was truly something.

"Aye, I see ya Silverpelt." I groaned letting out a yawn mixed with a groan.

"Deeewwwgoooong!" It bellowed happily lifting an ever so slight half smile to my face.

My smile was soon replaced with a scowling grimace as the silence of my room was assaulted by the harsh rapping of a fist on my office door.

"Damn-it all, what do ya want now, just open tHE FUCKING DOOR ALREADY!" I yelled receiving the sound of rustling behind me as my decidueye started to make rapid movements. Sometimes I completely forgot he was there with how quiet he was. He was exceptionally intelligent, and one of the things he excelled at was sign language.

I observed him for a few seconds trying to make out what he was saying but with little to no avail.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, I can't tell what your trying to say when you move your wings at that speed. You'll kill me with sign language overload." I grumbled.

With that, he let his wings fall to his sides and stood stock still, his eyes watching eerily from under his hood.

Looking back to the door, the knob screeched in a turn as my secretary opened the door and walked in with a file folder.

"I'm impressed, you managed to really reel in your foul language over the past few months." She stated with a bored tone like she had to put up with this everyday. Of course she had weekends off so I knew that wasn't true by a long shot.

"I'm obligated to point out, that your insistent cacophony of brutish sound is what drives me to the end of my limits." I stated with impatience. "Well, what did want to show me then?" I snapped.

"He was placed in the silver zone's monster ward sir." She told me firmly while handing me the Orange file folder. I was never sure why, but I always liked the orange folders. They felt somehow... right.

"What do you mean he was placed in the monster ward?" I growled through gritted teeth. "What was their logic for doing that?" I went on loudly as I pulled out the papers and skimmed through them.

My secretary just looked at me as if waiting for me to say something more. In my case I saw this as figure it out yourself, because I don't get paid to answer your questions.

"Fine then, i'm going to the silver zone, where are my car keys?" I asked firmly.

"Goooooooonnnng!" Silverpelt cried from the pool window.

"WHY ARE MY CAR KEYS IN THE POOL THIS TIME!" I roared with exasperation.

"It's not in my job description to know that sir." My secretary replied briskly.

"Thanks." I sulked.

"Sir, it's not my business, but doesn't your agreement with Sky Tech prevent you from interfering with their projects, sir." My secretary asked after a moment of silence.

"Sky Tech is nothing more than over glorified zealots." I grumbled. "Honor among thieves isn't a real thing. Besides, my agreement with them is they pay me hush money to keep quiet about their true nature. It says nothing about me being directly involved."

"Your behavior is more reckless than usual, why do you stress over this particular project?" She asked in response to my reasoning.

"My stress over this project is my business, and you best remember that!" I voiced with warning. "Sky Tech right now has their gaze focused on a different area, so it's not like i'm moving without cover anyways. Just two or so days ago, one of their testing facilities in the grey zone was attacked by a powerful wild pokemon. From my knowledge, it was one of their past projects to top it off. I'm the least of their priorities."

I strode quickly past my secretary and into the dark waiting room to my office. I always kept it dark in this part of the mansion. Of course the waiting room was only an aesthetic and served no real purpose, seeing as visitors weren't allowed in this part of the complex.

Making way for the exit I stopped with a burning feeling of unfulfillment. I turned my head to the side to give a glance at the cryo tube that held his body in the corner. Walking over I glanced in through the window to see the lifeless body of a young adult male with blond hair.

"I'm not sure how you live with yourself in all honesty, for all you know, being subject to Sky Tech's experiments is worse than death." My secretary sounded from behind me. "The only reason he was there that night, was because you sold out his name to Sky Tech in one of your deals."

"And what's it to you, huh?" I growled.

"Sir, I've been with you for a long time, and we both have pasts that are not so clean. I've seen you make many choices in my time with you that you have come to regret. I'm not sure why, but this one seems to be eating away at you. Maybe you bit off more than you can chew this time." She responded.

"You may be right." I stated while lightly putting my hand on the cold glass of the stasis chamber.

"Why did you push to have his body saved, is he someone you have ties to?" She asked stepping up beside me.

"It doesn't matter." I quickly replied as I turned and stormed out of the room.

 **(POV, Izan)**

We each exchanged a quick nod after our preparations to carry out Inari's plan. To be honest it was quite far-fetched, but still brilliant, for a pokemon at least. Up to this point I only saw most of them as semi intelligent creatures that played a large role in day to day life. My experience in this body was starting to teach me otherwise. If I ever got changed back to normal, I would never see the world in the same light ever again.

We all split off leaving the corner of the compound. Inari and Zin left as a group, while Zennen and I left in our own group. Evala meanwhile stayed back in the corner.

I had a lot of respect for Inari having come up with this, but I was also worried about the complexity of the plan. If one thing went wrong, or one pawn moved in an unprecedented way, it would all fall apart. I didn't even want to get started with the luck based parts of the plan. I'd just have to keep my claws crossed in hope that it didn't blow up in our faces.

"So, you ready to do this then?" Zennen spoke once we made it to about the center of the yard.

"I can't be sure, but who's to say I shouldn't be asking you the same thing?" I shot back.

"Ha, I was born for action, just don't trip over your own feet and try to keep up." He taunted.

"Keep talking and your going to be the one hoping he can outrun me." I responded.

"You ever poke a bee's nest with a stick before?" Zennen asked while picking up a stick.

"No, of course not." I said with mild annoyance.

"First off, you don't know the thrill your missing out on." Zennen said as he lead me towards the other side of the yard. "Second, this is about ten times worse." He finished stopping in front of a large brown mound on the ground.

"You sure you're not under estimating that?" I asked wearily as I examined the sleeping ursaring.

"Relax, and remember what Inari said, you have the most leeway of us. You know, like a VIP prisoner." Zennen said quietly. Apparently Inari noticed during my encounter with Zennen, that it wasn't me the guards were aiming at, but rather the surrounding pokemon in the area. Sky Tech must not want me harmed in any way was the conclusion she came to. This meant if I made a large enough racket the guards would be forced into action.

"I still don't know why we can't just put on an act similar to our fight from before, wouldn't that be safer?" I asked hushing my voice.

"I've only known you for a couple days now, and even I can tell you would find some way to mess up an act." Zennen replied with exasperation.

"Whatever, what exactly do you plan on doing then to anger him." I hissed at him my nerves on edge now that I was fully committed to the plan.

As I said this, Zennen gave me a dramatic salute with one paw, and promptly jammed the stick right into the ursarings' nose.

The response was so fast I nearly jumped out of my skin right there. The moment Zennen jabbed the sleeping bear with his stick, it's eyes flung open and it reared up standing more than twice my height.

Letting out the most horrendous roar I had ever heard in person, it swatted the stick from it nose and looked down to see me standing right in front of it practically cowering in fear.

"Run you fool!" Zennen called running past me as I ducked under a brutal swing from the angered grizzly.

Turning with more adrenaline pumping through my veins than should be considered healthy, I bolted the opposite direction. Ducking and diving through the large patches of grass in the yard I followed the zagging tail of Zennen away from the enraged bear pokemon.

I didn't stop for one second less the thundering sound of footfalls got any closer to me. This had to be the stupidest thing I had ever done I thought while barging through a small clearing with several startled pokemon.

"LET'S START A RIOT, WHOOOPA!" Zennen called out excitedly.

"Damn it, if we live through this i'll strangle you!" I yelled forward my voice accompanied by the furious roar of an ursaring.

"Admit it, you've never felt so alive in all your life!" Zennen called back laughing like a madman. "Looks like this is my my exit, cheerio!" He called turning off and leaving me to fend for myself.

 **(POV, Zennen)**

A small pang of guilt hit me as I parted ways with the complicated Absol, but I knew it was necessary. We couldn't risk using Inari as bait since her species was slower than Izan's. There was also the fact that the guards were more likely to act if Sky Techs experiment was in danger, rather then a street rebel that so happened to be caught at the same time as him.

As fast as I could make it, I ran to the entrance of the yard where I'd meet with my brother Zin.

The moment I reached the gate It began to open with several citizen safty officers running in.

Pulling to the side and meeting with Zin we both ran through the gates as they began to close. Thanks to the commotion and our small size we went unnoticed.

"Hard left." I said in a hushed voice once we got through the gate. Surely enough the door at the end of the small hallway to the left was open because a busted lock. Inari had noticed it when being brought to the yard today. Pushing the door open with Zin behind me we entered the room. Right ahead there was a stairwell being the only other exit to the room.

"I Think we're safe to take the collars off now." Zin said from behind me to which I nodded. Before we had started our mission, we had Izan use his claws on our collars to weaken them to the point we could easily gnaw them off.

Using our teeth on each-others collars we removed them and dropped them to the ground. The stuff that lined the inside tasted nasty.

"You cut it pretty close you know, a few more seconds and I would have had to continue this without you." Zin told me.

"Ok, ok, lay off would you, I had a lot of ground to cover." I responded slightly bummed.

Quickly running to the stairs, we began to climb one step at a time. It was painful how long it took us to get to the top when every second counted. To make matters worse there was a door at the top with a handle.

"On three." I said making a signal to the handle.

"Roger." Zin replied.

"One, two, three." I said ducking down.

Zin then ran forward and jumped onto my back launching himself to the door handle.

Latching on pulling it down with his body weight the door cracked open.

"Alright!" I exclaimed "Paw man!" To which Zin smacked my paw with his simulating a hi-five.

Running through the door we found ourselves on the top of the wall that surrounded the yard, taking no time to stop we kept moving towards the tower the stood at the far end passing a few guards too busy watching the yard to notice two small mouse pokemon run by them.

When we reached the door of the tower I sparred a second to look down into the yard, and stopped when I noticed what was happening. It was utter chaos down there. I couldn't spot Inari or Izan, let alone Evala the hybrid. Rather what I saw was a mosh pit near the center of the compound where several officers were positioned in a semi circle. They were using their traquilizers on anything that moved. Apparently leading a raging ursaring through the compound led to several more scattered fights breaking out leaving the guards to clean the mess up themselves.

"Whoa, it looks like the markets of the grey zone during a flash sale." Zin said stepping up beside me to which I just nodded my head as my eyes landed on a literal dog fight between a small pack of mightyena and lycanrock. What caught my eye though was Izan and Inari were hiding In shrubs right behind the fighting canines, and how they got there was beyond me.

"Ya, the guard function the role of police quite nicely." I said tacking on to Zin's comment. "We should probably hurry before, that, gets any worse." I stated pointing to the yard. "Let's go."

 **(POV, Izan)**

Ducking down as low as we could to stay out of the fray Inari and I waited in the shrubs hoping the commotion would die down to an extent.

"You know, when we chose to do this, I don't think any of us actually expected there to be a full on riot." I said trying to calm myself down from being run down by an ursaring.

"Just stay calm, and be patient. If my theory is correct, they should come across a couple pokemon in that tower keeping the gravity field up." Inari explained with an annoyed expression.

"And just what kind of pokemon do you expect them to find then?" I asked urgently. I was beginning to doubt our chances of escape more and more as time passed.

"If I had to guess, I'd say it would be a sigilyph based on the region. Happy?" Inarri snapped. "Now be quiet, and wait." She commanded.

"A sigilyph!" I exclaimed making Inari wince. "Those things are closer to ancient constructs than pokemon. Can Zennen and Zin even handle them?" I hissed my voice lower than before when I remembered we were trying to stay unnoticed.

"I'm banking on them being weakened by holding the gravity field while we're out here." She responded a light growl to her voice.

"And what if they are super charged from all the exercise they receive on a daily basis by keeping said barrier up?" I shot back.

"Would you cut it out?" Inari barked. "Last I checked, our fates are pretty much sealed if this doesn't work anyway! I'll be put down, Zennen and Zin's chances are slim, and I don't even know what will happen to you, which should be your top concern!" She ranted clearly fed up with my doubt.

"You know, ever since this happened to me, I haven't had a single normal conversation." I pointed out.

"And you're bringing this up now, why?" Inari asked.

"Just something I've noticed. Besides, i'm just trying to take my mind off of what's happening right now, which you seem to want anyway." I replied. "My personality just seems to clash with everyone i've met so far." I finished.

"Did it ever occure to you that your just paranoid, and that none of this is normal?" She asked casting a glace my way.

"You know what, paranoia is great. The last time I trusted someone I met, I lost my body." I growled the memory getting on my nerves.

"I have an odd feeling that your solitary behavior, is the reason why this happened to begin with." Inari countered. "You can't make it in this world without allies watching your back, which is exactly what I've been trying to tell you basically ever since I met you.

I let out a frustrated sigh in response the her reasoning, despite the fact I was beginning to see she was right. Thinking back, I was never able to back down from a fight. Even when I was losing on all fronts, I'd stick to my guns until the inevitable end. This was one of my flaws to be sure, and possibly one of my worst in social situations.

"I've been wondering, what exactly was Zennen talking about to make you lose your cool earlier today?" Inari asked changing the topic.

"And you're bringing this up now, why?" I asked mimicking her question for when I had asked something out of the blue.

"For starters I still don't even know why that happened to begin with, and some clarity would be a really nice change of pace." Inari said explaining her reasoning and causing me to sigh once more.

"She does, have the right to know." Hummed a voice from behind me making me jump slightly.

With a rustle the grass behind us parted slightly to reveal Evala poking her head up between us to join the conversation.

"Look I just fail to see the relevance of it." I responded.

"Well I for one feel you are still sore from it, and explaining it to someone you trust will help you get over it sooner." Evala said keeping eye contact with me.

"You do trust me by now, don't you?" Inari inquired leaning a bit forward to see past Evala.

"Hey that's not fair, it's two on one here!" I piped up. I could vaguely tell that the commotion in the yard was beginning to calm down meaning that time was running thin to finish our escape plan.

"Well if you spill it now, we won't have to pry it out of you." Inari said lightly, though I was starting to feel there was a serious undertone to it. I took mental note that Evala and Inari could make a very scary team in regards that one would justify the others actions. In all honesty their personalities when combined scared me to an extent.

"If you really must know, then it's because that same guard that tricked me day one, had humiliated me in front of everyone still in the yard when they were rounding the pokemon up." I grumbled.

"That only partially explains my question, what exactly did he do that merits a violent reaction when brought up?" Inari asked eliciting a grunt of annoyance from me.

"I can finish the story if you won't, I was there when it happened." Evala claimed looking over to Inari to finish telling her the events.

"Alright, alright, i'll finish telling her myself thank you." I grumbled in annoyance. "I decided I'd refuse to cooperate with the guard, and rather then let one of his friends tag me with a tranq dart he decided to grapple me and wrestle me to the ground and insert the suppressant manually." I explained.

"Dumbbed down, but that's more or less the truth." Evala claimed in a low key.

"That's ridiculous, I've heard of people doing some stupid things, but a human wrestling an absol borders on insanity." Inari stated incredulously. "How would he even manage that without being some sort of body builder?" She asked.

"Ahem." Evala sounded tapping the right side of her head after getting Inari's attention.

"I don't follow." Inari said sounding confused.

"Allow me to demonstrate." Evala hummed.

"Wait what?" I asked, just as Evala reached over and grabbed the area where my horn connected with my head slowly applying more pressure. " **AhHHHHHH** , stop, stop, stop!" I pleaded as my voice faded out.

When Evala had applied enough pressure to the stem of my horn, all the muscles in my body tensed making me freeze in place.

"What you are seeing here, is Izan's body reacting to a hyper sensitive pressure point created by all of the nerves that flow through his horn and right into his skull. Because the intense stimulation this puts on his brains processing power, his body responds as though it's under attack, but has no way to react to the assault because he's to busy trying to process the mixed messages being sent to his mind. Instead his muscles become tensed, and he becomes paralysed." Evala concluded letting go of me.

"Ahhhhh!" I exclaimed once more as I regained control over my body and vocal capabilities. "Please don't ever do that again." I gasped flexing my limbs to get rid of the tensed feeling.

"But that doesn't explain how he managed to get that close to Izan's horn. He should have got cut, or attacked in some other way if Izan was rebelling the way I think he was." Inari claimed sounding no less confused.

"You weren't there, this guy was on something I swear, because the only one I've ever seen move with such efficiency is her." I said pointing to Evala and defending myself.

"I'm not sure what you mean by, on something, but what I'm gathering is you were beaten into submission and you resent that." Inari deduced. "Am I to assume this is why you were acting so wierd around the guards this morning also?" She asked.

"Yes." I replied shortly.

"Wait, so all I have to do to get you to actually cooperate with me is to best you in combat?" Inari asked sounding amused.

"I already have that base covered." Evala stated in an upbeat tone, as she started to stroke the main down the back of my neck in a petting motion.

"This is abuse, and I have no reason to stand for it." I grumbled.

"So what? You only respect those stronger than you, makes sense to me I guess." Inari proclaimed dismissively while I stewed in my own irritation.

"Okay, what's taking Zennen and Zin so long!" I vented.

 **(POV, Zennen)**

Getting off the floor and regrouping with Zin we assumed back to back positions. On each side of us floated one sigilyph with a yellow sphere shield encasing them.

"There's no way we can break through their light screen, mirror coat techniques!" Zin panicked.

"There's still one option left!" I called back to Zin.

"Does it rhyme with pun, and include us getting out of here?" Zin asked hurriedly.

"Not quite, when have we ever ran from a challenge Zin?" I inquired bouncing from one foot to the other in anticipation of our foe's next attack.

"Duck!" Zin exclaimed signaling next said attack to come from his side.

After we ducked under the attack, we moved across to room to reposition ourselves.

"Zin, have you noticed that whenever they get close to each-other their shields combine and become one?" I asked breathing hard.

"Of course, it's hard to not notice." Zin voiced back.

"I need your help to get them close to together, I'm going to take one for the team." I stated getting a slight gasp from Zin.

"What are you talking about?" Zin asked sounding a little shaken by my word choice.

"I'm almost a fully grown adult now Zin, there comes a point when one must prove they're no longer some kid lost to they're own devices, and that they are ready to take on the world. The others are counting on us, I'm going in." I declared with determination.

"You know, I knew there was a reason you evolved sooner than most others would, I'm with you." Zin announced putting a paw on my shoulder.

 **(POV, Izan)**

"So you're saying you'd still fight me even though you know you'd lose?" Evala asked smugly. The conversation had quickly changed to combat prowess after Inari had brought up me only respecting those stronger than me.

"I never give up, you can beat me down, but i'll just keep on getting back up." I stated firmly.

"Izan, stubbonness alone doesn't win the war, you need the skills and resources too." Evala explained to me.

"I'm going to look around to get a feel for what is happening in the area." I announced getting up and leaving the grass.

I didn't get more than five steps out before hearing a rumbling growl, and then a surprised scream. I turned around in a flurry to see a horrifying sight. Inari was being pinned to the ground by an usraring, it was the same urasring that had chased me earlier! Evala was grappling onto the large bears back, but I knew she couldn't get the beast off alone.

While struggling with Evala, the bear began raise one clawed paw off the ground and aim it at Inari with the intent to kill. The moment the ursaring chose to drop his claws down, they would rip out her throat. I was about to watch Inari die if I didn't do anything.

In that moment something snapped withing me, I couldn't stand by and let someone die. Moving in a blur I felt a foreign power surge through me, but it was one I recognized well, **IT WAS AURA!**

Closing the short distance between me and the monstrous creature as fast as I could, I lowered my head to the right while focusing all the energy I could muster into my horn. When I swung my head, aiming my horn right for the ursarings neck, two things happened. The first was a crackling explosion sound, like a sonic boom shattering a thick sheet of ice making me wince in pain. The second, was a shower of red and warmth spreading across my visage. Where the explosion had originated from I couldn't tell at the time.

Everything became deftly silent, save for the ringing in my ears.

Wiping the blood from my right eye with the fur on my foreleg, I soon gathered what I could of my senses at the time and looked down to see Inari with a look of shock and fear in her eyes. She started saying something in a panic that I could only vaguely make out as her telling us to get the ursaring off her.

Both me and Evala pushed the now lifeless ursaring off of Inari, and gathered around her to see if she was alright. She had blood on her, but none of it seemed to be hers.

Breathless and winded Inari, looked to me.

"How?" She simply asked. The ringing in my ears was now dying down and I could make out words again.

"I don't." I never had time to finish my sentence, the sound of a thunderbolt striking at the top of the wall had cut me off.

"That's the signal!" Evala called out to us. "Get on my back, and do mind the wings please, it's been awhile, and I've never had to fly with this much weight before." She finished.

It was awkward to say the least finding out how to not fall off of Evala, but we had finally managed to position ourselves in a way that made flight possible.

Evala took off the first chance she got, and began to fly up to the top of the wall where the lightning struck.

Before making it very far, I cast a glance down to the dead ursaring and felt sick. If Zennen and I didn't provoke the creature, it wouldn't be dead right now. We, no, I alone was responsible for the death of that pokemon. I didn't know why the creature got as violent as it did, but it made me realize you can't know how others will respond, or what others will think of the actions you take. I could see clear as day, that life and day to day actions have a certain value to them that can be easily taken for granted.

When we got to the top of the wall, we found Zin next to three unconcious guards, and an unconscious Zennen that looked like he had several bad burns.

"He's not moving!" Zin shouted at us clearly crying.

"There's not enough time, get him on, we have to go." Evala declared.

Inari jumped off and helped her friend get Zennen into position near Zin. Without any hesitation, Evala took off without another word. Looking at the ground, I could see a good portion of the silver zone. I never really traveled to this part of the city so most of it was new to me. The buildings were better maintained, though I found there wasn't much in the way of residence, unlike what the white zone where I lived had.

As I scanned the ground, my sights zoned in on a man that was getting out of a car in front of the facility we had just escaped. Beside him there was also dewgong. As the dewgong happened to look up right at us, it enthusiastically began to wave at us, and try to get the mans attention at the same time.

When the man turned and looked up, I blinked twice and strained my eyes before a large building obscured my view.

"It couldn't have been him." I said aloud. If anyone noticed, they didn't mention it.

"Right down there!" Inari yelled over the wind.

Evala quickly began to descend making me lurch and feel queasy. She flew down into a tunnel that led under a wall where a river ran. I recognized the wall as one that separates the grey zone from the silver zone. Of course part of Inari's plan was that we make it to the grey zone as apparently, Inari, Zennen, and Zin herald from an underground organization in that part of the city making it our best bet.

Upon exit of the tunnel I instantly pegged the location as the grey zone on account of the roads being cracked and the buildings looking run down.

"Drop us off here." Inari commanded.

Evala spread her wings to full extent and leaned back to slow down and land. I held on for dear life, thinking if I let go I'd fall off and break something.

Once Evala touched down, I jumped off and immediately my head started to spin from dizziness that quickly faded.

"We're lucky this was a short distance, I wouldn't have been able to carry you for much longer, and your friend isn't looking too good." Said Evala to us.

"We can't stay in one place for too long, we have to keep moving. If we have patrol officers on our trail they won't let us into any of the outposts." Inari proclaimed.

Thankfully there weren't many, if any pedestrians in this part of the city. We soon pulled off into a small ally that appeared to be a dead end.

Inari banged on a trashcan a few times, much to my curiosity.

"I swear, if no one is watching this entrance, someone will get an earful." Inari growled.

"Group designation please." Sounded a muffled voice that seemed to come from the drain pipe on the side of the building.

"Group level novice, team size three, guest count two, team leader, Inari and one badly wounded." Inari spoke formally in response to the disembodied voice.

There was a moment of silence for what seemed like an eternity while we waited. I would look back from time to time, in fear that someone would see us, and Inari would shuffle her feet, which I was starting to learn meant, impatience or nervousness depending on the situation.

"Inari of grey twenty seven, you are approximately four miles off of your rally point and currently considered M,I,A, please state the nature of your guests, and a full explanation for your absence." Insisted the voice somewhat urgently.

"We were apprehended by citizen safety officers and placed under the watch of the silver zone monster ward. Two allies have helped us escape being an absol and a flygon salamence hybrid. We currently suspect potential pursuing forces, we request sanctuary." Inari said back trying her hardest to keep her formal facade from slipping.

This time the silence was accompanied by shuffling, and what I could only assume was bickering from where the voice had originated.

"You are to hold position and await a militant escort, failure to comply will result in an immediate discharge." Commanded the voice.

"Militant escort?" I said keeping my voice low.

"Just be cooperative, and try to see this from their perspective." Inari chided.

"Fine, I did agree to trust you on this." I admitted slightly reluctantly.

"Coal!" Someone exclaimed behind us.

"Crest?" I sounded instinctively while turning around. I shook my head soon after unsure of what possessed me to speak, or where I got the name.

"It is you!" Exclaimed the voice. When I had turned around, I found there to be a luxray and an excited absol standing there.

"I'll be damned, we thought you were dead, or worse." The luxray claimed in a deep voice. For some reason I felt his name was Nimbus.

I wasn't sure why I thought I knew these pokemon, or where these thoughts of familiarity came from, but I felt that just as I was starting to come to terms with my problems, my life had just became a lot more complicated.

* * *

 **So it's revealed that Izan's predicament is a bit more complex than it first seems. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out what's happening, but if you have no clue than don't fret, you probably didn't miss anything.**

 **Take care everyone, and have a great day/night.**


End file.
